From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Renate
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Vassallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Michele Calì in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces28 Dec 2026
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.
Match26 Dec 2026
Trento made Renate work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages swallow 130% of the Renate income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Match28 Dec 2026
The half-term report on Renate
Position 10, 18 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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
7.74, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Renate had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout28 Dec 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.” Ignazio Ferri, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Francesco Vassallo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Dec 2026
“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 The request is on a desk at Renate, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market21 Dec 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Thomas Clementi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Renate the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Francesco Vassallo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The terraces21 Dec 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match19 Dec 2026
Three points for Renate, 1‑0 the final word against Giana Erminio in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.23 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Michele Calì
“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 dugout21 Dec 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Ignazio Ferri could afford to be generous.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Renate may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match12 Dec 2026
The wait goes on for Renate
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Renate
Andrea Delcarro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Vassallo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ignazio Ferri after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Squad14 Dec 2026
One booking too many, and Simone Auriletto sits out. Renate lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Michele Avella, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.00, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Andrea Bonetti and Renate agree another 4 years.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A row about effort at Renate
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Vassallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match5 Dec 2026
Renate hit back inside 2 minutes
Dolomiti Bellunesi held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Renate answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Filippo Vesentini, and the manager let it.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Renate told Andrea Bonetti something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Match5 Dec 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market30 Nov 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Renate may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Francesco Vassallo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Renate
Filippo Vesentini 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 130% of everything Renate earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Andrea Bonetti did the work nobody counts — 6.46
9 combined actions and 6.46. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market23 Nov 2026
“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.
Match23 Nov 2026
Renate are in real trouble now
Position 14, 10 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market23 Nov 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Thomas Clementi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Renate the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Renate
Martín Suárez 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Corrado Riviera and Renate agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Renate
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Vassallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match21 Nov 2026
Novara left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Michele Calì
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad23 Nov 2026
The medical room confirms 29 days on the sidelines for Federico Colombo, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Vassallo 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Renate
Gianluca Esposito and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“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.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Samuele Spalluto’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Renate needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Andrei Moţoc knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andrei Moţoc trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Paolo Gardoni has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Renate 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A wage question at Renate
Andrea Bonetti 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.
Market16 Nov 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Renate know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Next up on the road: Novara, position 5. The supporters who go will talk about it all week and the ones who do not will check their phones at ten to five.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Renate
Martín Suárez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Francesco Vassallo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match7 Nov 2026
Lecco made Renate work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
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.
Market9 Nov 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Francesco Vassallo has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Renate.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Marked 8.26 — 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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager has not finished forgetting Tommaso Nobile's mistake
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
The plan did not have a place for Filippo Vesentini
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match31 Oct 2026
0‑2 to Pro Vercelli, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 130% of everything Renate earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Andrei Moţoc gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Squad2 Nov 2026
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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Arioli 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Renate will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Oct 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Thomas Clementi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Renate the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Francesco Vassallo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match24 Oct 2026
Three points for Renate, 2‑1 the final word against Carpi in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
He is 22 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.29, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Michele Calì
“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 dugout26 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.” Ignazio Ferri, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Squad26 Oct 2026
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Renate have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Looking ahead26 Oct 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Pro Vercelli in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match17 Oct 2026
4 matches without a win for Renate
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Renate are no longer polite ones.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Renate
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Vassallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad19 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Half-satisfied: Ignazio Ferri on the draw
“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 dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Pasquale Ruiz
“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 dugout19 Oct 2026
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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Alcione Milano came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Renate
Filippo Vesentini 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Tommaso Nobile knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Renate, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Renate
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mattia Arioli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Paolo Gardoni gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Paolo Gardoni is on it.
Market12 Oct 2026
The name of Corrado Riviera keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Renate say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Oct 2026
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Francesco Vassallo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match3 Oct 2026
Arzignano left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
174% of the income goes out in wages at Renate
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 dugout5 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad5 Oct 2026
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Renate this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Ignazio Ferri to a room that had heard them before.
Market5 Oct 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Gianluca Esposito has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Renate.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match23 Sep 2026
Renate out of the cup
Livorno ended it 0‑0. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad28 Sep 2026
1 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Market28 Sep 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Renate is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Renate
Martín Suárez 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Vassallo 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Union Brescia left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Michele Calì gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
It was his to settle and he did not settle it. A long walk back to the halfway line, and a considerably longer week.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Renate
Andrea Delcarro and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Renate
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Vassallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets21 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Benfica have kept their man, and Renate go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match19 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Samuele Spalluto’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Renate.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 7.60. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ignazio Ferri on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Sep 2026
“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 Renate, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market14 Sep 2026
Renate say no — this time
The offer from Audace Cerignola for Thomas Clementi 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Francesco Vassallo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sparta Prague have kept their man, and Renate go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match12 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tommaso Nobile, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ignazio Ferri after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Looking ahead14 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Michele Calì’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Renate needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Renate can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 3 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Renate 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Vassallo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Renate 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.
Looking ahead7 Sep 2026
A test against the best for Renate
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Cittadella.
Squad7 Sep 2026
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.
Looking ahead7 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Riccardo De Zen’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Renate needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market7 Sep 2026
The window shut and Andrea Delcarro is still in the building
Renate spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
Supporters make their feelings known about Corrado Riviera
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Renate would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Renate can pretend not to have heard.
Market31 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Audace Cerignola waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Renate is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
15 combined actions and 6.88. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Renate asked and Udinese said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Renate
Filippo Vesentini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match29 Aug 2026
Ospitaletto left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Ignazio Ferri left the room before anybody could ask which.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Feyenoord have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Ospitaletto had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Sparta Prague, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
3 academy graduates step up at Renate
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Renate training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Vassallo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market24 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Davide Agostini 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Adriano Amato is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Renate
Giorgio Pietropoli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
In brief
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Boardroom
Renate say no to the training-ground money
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Looking ahead
Looking ahead: the trip to Ospitaletto
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The dugout
Lorenzo De Leo keeps his manager's vote
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Thomas Clementi had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Renate
Martín Suárez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Renate
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Vassallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Renate asked and Padova said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market17 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Ospitaletto have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Andrea Bartoccioni. The answer from Renate has not changed — yet.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Sparta Prague have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Panathinaikos is saying, and nobody at Renate is enjoying the guessing.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Renate
Martín Suárez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Renate
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Vassallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Cremonese have kept their man, and Renate go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Andrea Bonetti
“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.
Market10 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Renate, another week without a signature from Francesco Vassallo.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Sparta Prague have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to LOSC Lille: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market10 Aug 2026
48 months and counting on Andrei Moţoc
Still no offer on the table, and Andrei Moţoc’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Andrea Delcarro commits to Renate for another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Renate
Andrea Delcarro 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Renate
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Vassallo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market3 Aug 2026
“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.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Giorgos Katris is in the works
Renate have made the call to Panathinaikos. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.