“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 The request is on a desk at Reggiana, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Reggiana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Massimo Bertagnoli 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 will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Francesco Vicari trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Reggiana know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
6 goals in 29 games at Renate — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Reggiana updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Alessandro Tripaldelli is on it.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Reggiana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Jérémie Lioka 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 is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Reggiana told Matteo Rover something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Reggiana. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Reggiana can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yeferson Paz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Reggiana know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kleis Bozhanaj trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Reggiana would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Reggiana have had the benefit of it.
The medical room confirms 34 days on the sidelines for Mateus Lusuardi, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Reggiana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Massimo Bertagnoli 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.
Argyris Darelas was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Andrija Novaković is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Reggiana, and both men came out saying it was fine.
First, on 67 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Reggiana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Massimo Bertagnoli 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 Reggiana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Reggiana know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Reggiana. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Reggiana will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 67 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Reggiana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The first defeat in 9 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Campobasso; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Reggiana is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alessio Furlanetto, and the manager let it.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at Reggiana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mathis Lambourde 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.
Jérémie Lioka 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.
9 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
6.03, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
“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 Reggiana know it.
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Reggiana will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.72 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Everybody at Reggiana saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 34 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Reggiana will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
At 18 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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Jérémie Lioka was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Yeferson Paz’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Reggiana needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Reggiana will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
7 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tommaso Fumagalli provided it, and the 8.55 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Francesco Borriello will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Reggiana the goodbyes have quietly begun.
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Forli tried to reorganise, Reggiana did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Reggiana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Massimo Bertagnoli 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 53 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Reggiana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Charlys 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.
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.
Marked 8.21 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Reggiana lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Michele Castagnetti and Reggiana agree another 2 years.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Yeferson Paz was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.22. 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.
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Reggiana lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
“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 Reggiana know it.
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Reggiana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Reggiana will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Reggiana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Reggiana have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Reggiana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Massimo Bertagnoli 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Reggiana pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Kleis Bozhanaj
48 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Reggiana lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Reggiana will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
A brace, and Matteo Rover takes the afternoon — 8.14
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Matteo Rover provided it, and the 8.14 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The offer from Torpedo-BelAZ for Argyris Darelas 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Reggiana will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
55 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Reggiana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Reggiana will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sorrento waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Reggiana is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Hernán Claro has, at Reggiana, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.90 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Reggiana ran out of time with Casarano. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
62 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Reggiana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 79 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Reggiana 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 offer went to Casarano this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Reggiana 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.
The first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Spezia; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
69 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Reggiana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Reggiana will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Reggiana have lost him in all but the paperwork.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Charlys provided it, and the 8.24 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Reggiana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Reggiana is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
76 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Reggiana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Reggiana will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Reggiana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
83 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Reggiana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Reggiana will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sorrento waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Reggiana is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Reggiana can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Reggiana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The offer from Estoril Praia for Leon Šipoš 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.
90 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Reggiana lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Reggiana will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
31 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Reggiana will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Reggiana can pretend not to have heard.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Pro Vercelli have kept their man, and Reggiana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
97 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Reggiana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 114 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Reggiana, and it is not being withdrawn.
Three points for Reggiana, 2‑0 the final word against Campobasso in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Reggiana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Massimo Bertagnoli 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.
Position 1, 28 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The words a physio says slowly. 104 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 122 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Reggiana, and it is not being withdrawn.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 10 actions, 6.30, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
8.03. 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.
112 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Reggiana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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 7.38 for the rest of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mathis Lambourde was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Marco Serafini left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Reggiana deserved better, and so did he.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Massimo Bertagnoli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.07 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Marco Serafini could afford to be generous.
Two goals and a mark of 8.65 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Reggiana and Torres in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Reggiana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Massimo Bertagnoli is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Reggiana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 3‑3, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Gubbio; the supporters will say both, in that order, all 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.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Nobody at Reggiana 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.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Matteo Maggio’s exile
Gubbio next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Massimo Bertagnoli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Reggiana will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Reggiana, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Cedric Gondo signs something — a contract at Reggiana or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Reggiana 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.
4 goals in 9 games at Crotone — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Reggiana updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
113 minutes played. Andrija Novaković found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Padova went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Massimo Bertagnoli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mathis Lambourde 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. Mario Sampirisi has come out of that comparison in the side, and Reggiana have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
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.” Marco Serafini, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Paolo Rozzio
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Reggiana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Massimo Bertagnoli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
14 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Marco Serafini kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
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 Reggiana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.93 on the card, and the Reggiana support went home talking about one name.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
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.” Marco Serafini, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Reggiana know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mateus Lusuardi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Massimo Bertagnoli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Erick Ciobanu 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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Spezia scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Matteo Rover is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Massimo Bertagnoli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Lorenzo Crisetig 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 Sep 2026
14 new faces, and Reggiana 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Lorenzo Crisetig’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Reggiana needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Francesco Vicari, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Reggiana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mathis Lambourde 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 finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Marco Serafini was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Reggiana dressing room was either.
9 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
A 3‑1 win over Sambenedettese, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Reggiana asked and Huracán said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Massimo Bertagnoli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Reggiana close the window on a squad of their own making
8 in and 5 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Napoli have kept their man, and Reggiana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Massimo Bertagnoli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Reggiana than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Reggiana would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Reggiana know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Two goals and a mark of 8.58 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
7.81, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
14 new faces, and Reggiana are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Marco Serafini could afford to be generous.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $45.5K — a club that wants Andrea Cogoni enough to be asked twice.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Fiorentina have kept their man, and Reggiana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Antonio Melis 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. Roberto Greco is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Valerio Parisi 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. Mattia Sanna 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Reggiana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Massimo Bertagnoli 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.
Reggiana had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Cremonese, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Reggiana have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Reggiana know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
$2.6M on the table at Udinese. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The offer went to Cremonese this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.3M — a club that wants Lapo Nava enough to be asked twice.
Lorenzo Crisetig and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Reggiana has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Matteo Rover has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Tommaso Fumagalli arrived with a record at a bigger club than this one, and the room has treated him accordingly. The young ones watch him train; the senior ones watch to see whether it lasts.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Michele Castagnetti and Reggiana 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.
Still no offer on the table, and Matteo Rover’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
11 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.