Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Pro Patria had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Fiorentina, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Kyrylo Pashko 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 Christian Dimarco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Pro Patria had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Torino, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christian Dimarco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Simone Cantamessa 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 mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Pro Patria are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The deal with Renate is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
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 asked and Altamura said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Minute 92, against Giana Erminio, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $21.7M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Two goals and a mark of 8.46 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
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 money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
“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.
Gerardo Calabrese and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Dec 2031
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Dimarco 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.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“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.
Salvatore Borrelli 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.
Squad22 Dec 2031
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pietro Reggiori 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Union Brescia defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Arzignano in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christian Dimarco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
“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.
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.
Nobody at Pro Patria 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.
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.
“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 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 money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
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.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
6 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Kyrylo Pashko 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.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pietro Reggiori was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Pro Patria, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
“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.
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Salvatore Borrelli 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 Christian Dimarco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
15 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.
“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.
Successful dribbles: 54. 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.
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.
“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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Pro Patria can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad10 Nov 2031
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pietro Reggiori 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.
Nicolás Del Priore 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.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Boardroom10 Nov 2031
Nobody left the Pro Patria dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
14 seasons and 359 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
Salvatore Borrelli 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.” Simone Cantamessa and Pro Patria agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Boardroom3 Nov 2031
122% of the income goes out in wages at Pro Patria
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.
“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.
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.
Kyrylo Pashko 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 William Rovida was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mattia Lombardo after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer 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.
“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.
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad20 Oct 2031
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pietro Reggiori 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 embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Pro Patria will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad13 Oct 2031
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. William Rovida 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.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $20.6M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
“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; Pro Patria are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
“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 Luciano Ruiz.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Szilárd Bokros trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Salvatore Borrelli 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.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Nicola Berardi obliged against Ternana. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Pro Patria.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 122th minute. Ternana will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Salvatore Borrelli 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.
“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; Pro Patria are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Nicola Berardi is living that version at Pro Patria, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
Nicolás Del Priore 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 embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
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.
“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.
Squad22 Sep 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.
It needed Simone Cantamessa to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Ospitaletto, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Pietro Reggiori 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and William Rovida was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Pro Patria 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Salvatore Borrelli has his answer from Pro Patria; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $20.5M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Pro Patria had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Palermo, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Kyrylo Pashko 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 shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
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. Bologna have kept their man, and Pro Patria go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 29 arrived, 25 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Pietro Reggiori 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.
It finished 3‑2, and it was Nouroudine Faye’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Pro Patria.
Squad1 Sep 2031
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Dimarco 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. Juventus have kept their man, and Pro Patria go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 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.
Boardroom25 Aug 2031
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Pro Patria
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Dimarco 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.
Pro Patria asked and Catania 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 Pro Patria this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Cesare Cattaneo 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. Roberto Ferri 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. Sergio Borghi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Pro Patria people have started saying his name 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.
Nicolás Del Priore 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.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Dimarco 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.
At 28 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 5 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ivan Dig has just signed for Pro Patria, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Luciano Ruiz 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.
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. Foggia have kept their man, and Pro Patria go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
He is 17, 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.
Luke Moore is 19, and Pro Patria have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
9 seasons and 253 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
“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; Pro Patria are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Pro Patria now know that too.
Squad4 Aug 2031
Szilárd Bokros has improved at 31, 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 gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Pro Patria asked and Inter 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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Casarano keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Nicolás Del Priore 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 15 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.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pietro Reggiori 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.
Pro Patria have made the call to Atalanta. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Pro Patria has been clear about where Jakub Rakyta stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Pro Patria have done the hard part with Casarano, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Pescara keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
Pro Patria asked and Cremonese said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Pisa waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Pro Patria is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The deal with Pescara 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Fiorentina keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Gian Filippo Felicioli 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 Christian Dimarco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Torres have kept their man, and Pro Patria go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
At 28 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Luciano Chiari is in the works
Squad5 new faces, and Pro Patria are still learning each other
Position 17 and 25 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Pro Patria have done the hard part with Juventus, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Sassuolo is saying, and nobody at Pro Patria is enjoying the guessing.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Nouroudine Faye has agreed terms with Casertana for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next 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.
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Simone Cantamessa 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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Casarano keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jakub Rakyta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 William Rovida is on it.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Pro Patria could ask drops and the wages Nouroudine Faye can ask rise.
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.
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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Frosinone is saying, and nobody at Pro Patria is enjoying the guessing.
Salvatore Borrelli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Jun 2031
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pietro Reggiori 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 borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Pro Patria were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
“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.
The offer from Cosenza for Nouroudine Faye was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Hellas Verona keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pietro Reggiori was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Pro Patria 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.
Boardroom16 Jun 2031
150% of the income goes out in wages at Pro Patria
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.
Albert Ates 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Emanuele Paro is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Pro Patria people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The phone has started ringing about Nouroudine Faye again, and this time the name on the line is Cosenza. Pro Patria are listening politely and promising nothing.
The deal with Hellas Verona 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.
Gian Filippo Felicioli 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.
Squad9 Jun 2031
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Dimarco 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 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christian Dimarco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Pro Patria asked and Dolomiti Bellunesi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Pro Patria is running low.
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.
Squad26 May 2031
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Dimarco 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.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $19.3M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
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.
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout26 May 2031
The manager has not finished forgetting Fouad Halil'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.
10 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Alcione Milano were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by 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.
Boardroom19 May 2031
147% of the income goes out in wages at Pro Patria
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.
Simone Cantamessa 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 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Albert Ates 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.
A 2‑0 win over Alcione Milano, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
10 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Position 17 and 22 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Gian Filippo Felicioli 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jacopo Colletti 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. Nicola Vitale 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.
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christian Dimarco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Pro Patria is running low.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Albert Ates will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pro Patria the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tommy Maistrello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
8.38. 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.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $18.5M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.80 for the rest of it.
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.
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.” Mattia Lombardo after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
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.
Tommy Maistrello 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 Christian Dimarco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
0‑1 to Lecco, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout14 Apr 2031
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Mattia Lombardo to a room that had heard them before.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Tommy Maistrello and Pro Patria agree another 2 years.
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 are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout7 Apr 2031
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑4 defeat, delivered by Mattia Lombardo to a room that had heard them before.
“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.
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
Pietro Reggiori and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Mar 2031
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tommy Maistrello 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.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
1 for Thomas Schirò, marked 7.98, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Tommy Maistrello 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 Mar 2031
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Dimarco 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.
Level with 91 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Pro Patria had all but put away. Renate will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
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 Gian Filippo Felicioli is on it.
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 Mar 2031
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tommy Maistrello 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.
Christian Travaglini and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Player ratings17 Mar 2031
Nouroudine Faye was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.11. 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.
A point taken on 94 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Something was said to Nouroudine Faye and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Pro Patria pretended it was anything other than a decision 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.
Squad10 Mar 2031
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tommy Maistrello 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.
0‑2 to Pergolettese, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout10 Mar 2031
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Mattia Lombardo to a room that had heard them before.
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.
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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Pro Patria can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
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.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Davide Ferri. 2‑1 against Dolomiti Bellunesi, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Albert Ates 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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Dolomiti Bellunesi spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Marked 8.05 — 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
BoardroomThe borrowing at Pro Patria reaches $17.2M
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tommy Maistrello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom24 Feb 2031
125% of the income goes out in wages at Pro Patria
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.
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 Gian Filippo Felicioli is on it.
The manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Pro Patria could ask drops and the wages Tommaso Ricordi can ask rise.
Gian Filippo Felicioli 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 Tommy Maistrello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christian Dimarco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Pro Patria asked and Dolomiti Bellunesi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout10 Feb 2031
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Mattia Lombardo to a room that had heard them before.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Pro Patria will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
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 William Rovida is on 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.
“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.
Boardroom3 Feb 2031
Pro Patria close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 7 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.
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.
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 version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Szilárd Bokros is living that version at Pro Patria, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad3 Feb 2031
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tommy Maistrello 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.
Pro Patria asked and Audace Cerignola said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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.
500 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tommy Maistrello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Christian Travaglini 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.
Boardroom27 Jan 2031
123% of the income goes out in wages at Pro Patria
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.
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 Gian Filippo Felicioli is on it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of António Indami
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Pro Patria scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
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.
Tommy Maistrello and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad20 Jan 2031
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pietro Reggiori 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.
“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.
Gian Filippo Felicioli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Jan 2031
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tommy Maistrello 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.
Half the programme played, position 15, 14 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
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 William Rovida is on it.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings6 Jan 2031
A brace, and Davide Ferri takes the afternoon — 8.28
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Davide Ferri provided it, and the 8.28 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Tommy Maistrello 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.
“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.
Boardroom30 Dec 2030
119% of the income goes out in wages at Pro Patria
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.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mattia Lombardo after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Pro Patria told Albert Ates something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tommy Maistrello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Simone Cantamessa 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.
It needed Simone Cantamessa to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Union Brescia, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout23 Dec 2030
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.” Mattia Lombardo chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without 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.
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 William Rovida is on 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 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mattia Lombardo after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Pro Patria can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.86, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Gian Filippo Felicioli 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 Tommy Maistrello 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 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Nouroudine Faye 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.
A point taken on 95 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pietro Reggiori was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Pro Patria are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tommy Maistrello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout11 Nov 2030
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Mattia Lombardo to a room that had heard them before.
“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.
10 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“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.
Pietro Reggiori 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 Tommy Maistrello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Leutrim Callaku has come out of that comparison in the side, and Pro Patria have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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
BoardroomNobody arrives at Pro Patria until somebody leaves
Tommy Maistrello 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 Oct 2030
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Dimarco 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.
Pergolettese left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout28 Oct 2030
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 0‑2 Mattia Lombardo left the room before anybody could ask which.
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 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.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Dolomiti Bellunesi the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Pro Patria will enjoy reviewing.
8 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.
Squad21 Oct 2030
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tommy Maistrello 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: 20. 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.
Christian Travaglini 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.
8.38. 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.
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Pro Patria can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Christian Dimarco signs something — a contract at Pro Patria or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Pro Patria will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pietro Reggiori was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mattia Lombardo after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tommy Maistrello 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 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Robert Łukowiak 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.
Gian Filippo Felicioli 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.
Squad23 Sep 2030
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tommy Maistrello 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.
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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
At 23 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.
Tommy Maistrello 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.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
“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.
“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 Nouroudine Faye.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tommy Maistrello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
That is the business done at Pro Patria until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Tommy Maistrello and Pro Patria agree another 2 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tommy Maistrello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
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.
Tommy Maistrello 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.
Boardroom26 Aug 2030
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Pro Patria
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pietro Reggiori was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Enrico Calabrese 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. Umberto Alberti 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. Nicolò Rizzi has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
At 23 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.
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.
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 asked and Renate said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 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.
“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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Pro Patria have done the hard part with Triestina, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Nikita Bahinskyi has just signed for Pro Patria, and for once the answer mattered.
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. Picerno have kept their man, and Pro Patria go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
7 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tommaso Ricordi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 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 Tommaso Ricordi.
Nobody has barred the club from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every incoming name comes with an outgoing one attached.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. António Indami is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tommaso Ricordi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Pro Patria is running low.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Andrés Hidalgo is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
Simone Cantamessa 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.
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.
Nobody writes a headline about a tutor. Nobody has to be told, either, what happens to a signing who spends two years being the man nobody can talk to at lunch.
At 23 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.
Pietro Reggiori 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 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.
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.
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.
6 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.
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 Gian Filippo Felicioli is on 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.
Squad8 Jul 2030
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tommy Maistrello 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.
4 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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Pro Patria has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Pro Patria is running low.
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.
Pietro Reggiori was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 Jul 2030
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tommy Maistrello 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Luciano Piras trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Pro Patria has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
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.
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 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Pro Patria are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tommy Maistrello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
He is 18, 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.
5 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.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tommy Maistrello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Pro Patria were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
He is 18, 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.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
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.
Tommy Maistrello and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad3 Jun 2030
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Dimarco 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Thomas Schirò is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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 William Rovida is on it.
The window is open, and with it the only month of the year when a supporter’s hopes are limited by nothing but arithmetic. The board know the arithmetic; the supporters know the hopes.
A new face in his position, and Thomas Schirò suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Pro Patria have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
In brief
The dugoutMirko Coppola asks for a word with the manager
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tommy Maistrello 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.
Christian Travaglini 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 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.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Salvatore Caputo may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tommy Maistrello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Squad20 May 2030
Getting past William Rovida has become the hardest job in the division
13 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Davide Ferri. 1‑0 against Alcione Milano, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Boardroom20 May 2030
114% of the income goes out in wages at Pro Patria
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Mattia Lombardo on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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 Leutrim Callaku.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Christian Dimarco was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.99 on the card, and the Pro Patria support went home talking about one name.
The dugout13 May 2030
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Mattia Lombardo, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Pro Patria has been clear about where Andrea Rossi stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tommy Maistrello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Gian Filippo Felicioli 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Pro Patria has been clear about where Tommaso Ricordi stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad6 May 2030
Getting past William Rovida has become the hardest job in the division
12 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
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 William Rovida is on it.
“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.
“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.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Lumezzane will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Pietro Reggiori 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 Tommy Maistrello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Marked 8.39 — 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
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 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.
13 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tommy Maistrello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Andrea Rossi.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
0‑3 against AlbinoLeffe, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
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.
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.
Pietro Reggiori 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 Tommy Maistrello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
11 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Tommy Maistrello was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 Apr 2030
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Dimarco 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.
“I watch every Pro Patria game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Avellino runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
10 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad25 Mar 2030
Words at Pro Patria training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tommy Maistrello 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
9 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Pro Patria can tell you which week it ends in.
“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.
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.
8 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Harvey Rowe will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Pro Patria the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Tommy Maistrello 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.
“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.
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.
Successful dribbles: 41. 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.
7 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Levente Szondi has, at Pro Patria, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tommy Maistrello was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.