From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match27 Nov 2032
No end in sight to Südtirol's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Südtirol has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces29 Nov 2032
Anger at Südtirol spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad29 Nov 2032
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.
Squad29 Nov 2032
A falling-out at Südtirol
Andrea Giorgini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match27 Nov 2032
Sampdoria left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad29 Nov 2032
“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; Südtirol are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Player ratings29 Nov 2032
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout29 Nov 2032
“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.
Boardroom29 Nov 2032
Wages eat 99% of everything Südtirol 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.
In brief
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Squad
Realdo Fili falls out with a teammate over standards
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Boardroom
Nobody arrives at Südtirol until somebody leaves
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Nov 2032
Chastening afternoon for Südtirol
A 1‑4 beating by Mantova was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match20 Nov 2032
No end in sight to Südtirol's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Südtirol has to find a result from somewhere.
Market22 Nov 2032
“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 Südtirol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 Nov 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Südtirol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Nov 2032
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Davi 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.
Boardroom22 Nov 2032
Nobody left the Südtirol 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.
The dugout22 Nov 2032
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 Interim Coach to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout22 Nov 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Martín Marta, and the manager let it.
The terraces22 Nov 2032
Every touch weighed, every quote parsed, every mistake replayed. Some players grow into that; some are quietly finished by it; nobody knows which until afterwards.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match15 Nov 2032
Südtirol are in real trouble now
Position 18, 7 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.
Match13 Nov 2032
7 matches without a win for Südtirol
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Südtirol are no longer polite ones.
Squad15 Nov 2032
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.
The dugout15 Nov 2032
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Südtirol have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad15 Nov 2032
Andrea Giorgini 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.
Match13 Nov 2032
4 matches without a goal for Südtirol
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.
Squad15 Nov 2032
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simone Davi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 Nov 2032
The manager makes an example of Realdo Fili
“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.
Player ratings15 Nov 2032
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Nov 2032
Nowhere to hide for Südtirol
0‑3 against Bari, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match6 Nov 2032
6 matches without a win for Südtirol
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Südtirol are no longer polite ones.
Market8 Nov 2032
“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 Südtirol, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout8 Nov 2032
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Südtirol may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad8 Nov 2032
Hamza El Kaouakibi 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.
Match6 Nov 2032
3 matches without a goal for Südtirol
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.
Squad8 Nov 2032
Fabrisio Mesías makes the wrong kind of headline
Dealt with internally, which is the phrase a club uses when it would rather nobody asked twice. He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday.
Boardroom8 Nov 2032
Nobody left the Südtirol 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.
Squad8 Nov 2032
Realdo Fili 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Nov 2032
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The terraces1 Nov 2032
Supporters organise against the Südtirol board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Match30 Oct 2032
5 matches without a win for Südtirol
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Südtirol are no longer polite ones.
Squad1 Nov 2032
Words exchanged at Südtirol
Daniele Casiraghi 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.
Squad1 Nov 2032
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simone Davi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match30 Oct 2032
Cagliari left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad1 Nov 2032
Fabrisio Mesías in trouble away from the ground
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
Boardroom1 Nov 2032
Wages swallow 97% of the Südtirol 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.
The dugout1 Nov 2032
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Oct 2032
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.
Market25 Oct 2032
“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 Oct 2032
No end in sight to Südtirol's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Südtirol has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad25 Oct 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Südtirol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Oct 2032
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simone Davi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market25 Oct 2032
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Marcello Lombardo 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.
Market25 Oct 2032
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Luigi Rinaldi 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.
Market25 Oct 2032
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Danilo Zenoni 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.
Match23 Oct 2032
0‑1 to Catanzaro, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings18 Oct 2032
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 7.89 for the rest of it.
Squad18 Oct 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Südtirol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Oct 2032
Andrea Giorgini 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.
Player ratings18 Oct 2032
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.
Squad18 Oct 2032
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Südtirol can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Match16 Oct 2032
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 dugout18 Oct 2032
Néstor Trejo 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 dugout18 Oct 2032
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Market18 Oct 2032
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Simone Davi’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Oct 2032
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market11 Oct 2032
Only the photograph left for Néstor Trejo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Néstor Trejo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Südtirol the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad11 Oct 2032
A falling-out at Südtirol
Daniele Casiraghi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Oct 2032
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Giorgini 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 ratings11 Oct 2032
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market11 Oct 2032
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Südtirol, another week without a signature from Federico Marcucci.
The dugout11 Oct 2032
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.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Player ratings11 Oct 2032
Defensive actions: 13, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match9 Oct 2032
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Genoa defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces4 Oct 2032
The mood at Südtirol has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad4 Oct 2032
A career in one shirt: Simone Davi
15 seasons and 446 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.
Market4 Oct 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Südtirol can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout4 Oct 2032
“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.
Squad4 Oct 2032
A falling-out at Südtirol
Andrea Giorgini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Oct 2032
Simone Davi 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.
Match2 Oct 2032
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings4 Oct 2032
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad4 Oct 2032
“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; Südtirol are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match22 Sep 2032
The small margins put Südtirol out
Out, 0‑1 to Venezia, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad27 Sep 2032
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market27 Sep 2032
“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 Südtirol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings27 Sep 2032
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.07, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match25 Sep 2032
At last: Südtirol win one
7 matches without a win, and then this, against Reggiana. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad27 Sep 2032
Daniele Casiraghi 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.
Squad27 Sep 2032
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Giorgini 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.
Match25 Sep 2032
It finished 1‑0, and it was Daniele Casiraghi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Südtirol.
Squad27 Sep 2032
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Südtirol can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom20 Sep 2032
Südtirol interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Interim Coach keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
Match18 Sep 2032
0‑3 to Pisa, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Match18 Sep 2032
6 matches without a win for Südtirol
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Südtirol are no longer polite ones.
Market20 Sep 2032
“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.
Match18 Sep 2032
4 matches without a goal for Südtirol
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.
Squad20 Sep 2032
Andrea Giorgini 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 targets20 Sep 2032
Südtirol asked and Sassuolo 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 dugout20 Sep 2032
“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.
Squad20 Sep 2032
100 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.
In brief
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Squad
Words exchanged at Südtirol
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Boardroom
Nobody left the Südtirol dressing room in a hurry
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 Sep 2032
0‑3 to Avellino, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market13 Sep 2032
Only the photograph left for Néstor Trejo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Néstor Trejo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Südtirol the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match11 Sep 2032
The wait goes on for Südtirol
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.
Player ratings13 Sep 2032
Successful dribbles: 25. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout13 Sep 2032
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Südtirol may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2032
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Sassuolo keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad13 Sep 2032
A falling-out at Südtirol
Daniele Casiraghi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Sep 2032
Simone Davi 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.
Match11 Sep 2032
The goals have deserted Südtirol
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Südtirol can tell you which week it ends in.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces6 Sep 2032
Supporters organise against the Südtirol board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Boardroom6 Sep 2032
Deadline passes with 17 signed and 23 gone
That is the business done at Südtirol 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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2032
An order from above at Südtirol: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Match4 Sep 2032
No end in sight to Südtirol's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Südtirol has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad6 Sep 2032
Words exchanged at Südtirol
Daniele Casiraghi 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.
Squad6 Sep 2032
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Giorgini 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 targets6 Sep 2032
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Catanzaro have kept their man, and Südtirol go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad6 Sep 2032
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Realdo Fili and Südtirol agree another 2 years.
Player ratings6 Sep 2032
7.75, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Südtirol had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
In brief
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Transfer targets
A loan move for Pietro De Simone is in the works
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Squad
Too much change too quickly at Südtirol
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Boardroom
Nobody arrives at Südtirol until somebody leaves
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Aug 2032
0‑6 to Bologna, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad30 Aug 2032
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.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2032
Südtirol 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.
Squad30 Aug 2032
Daniele Casiraghi 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.
Match28 Aug 2032
Nobody could stop scoring
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Südtirol and Bologna in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Boardroom30 Aug 2032
Südtirol counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Südtirol now.
Squad30 Aug 2032
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrea Giorgini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom30 Aug 2032
Still nobody in the Südtirol dugout
10 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2032
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Birkirkara have kept their man, and Südtirol go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom23 Aug 2032
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Gregorio Parisi clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
Boardroom23 Aug 2032
An empty coaching office at Südtirol
There is nobody left to promote and nobody left to run a session. The board have brought in a name the supporters do not know, and the question of how a club gets here will outlast whoever answers it.
Boardroom23 Aug 2032
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2032
The deal with Atalanta 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.
Squad23 Aug 2032
Andrea Giorgini 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.
Boardroom23 Aug 2032
7 academy graduates step up at Südtirol
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.
Squad23 Aug 2032
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Davi 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 targets23 Aug 2032
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.
Market23 Aug 2032
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Tommaso D'Amico is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom16 Aug 2032
Pressure builds in the Südtirol boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market16 Aug 2032
Martín Marta hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Südtirol can pretend not to have heard.
Market16 Aug 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Südtirol is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2032
The deal with Reggiana 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.
Squad16 Aug 2032
Andrea Giorgini 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 targets16 Aug 2032
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.
Squad16 Aug 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Südtirol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Aug 2032
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.
Squad16 Aug 2032
67 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces9 Aug 2032
Anger at Südtirol spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2032
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.
Squad9 Aug 2032
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Karim Zedadka commits to Südtirol for another 3 years.
Squad9 Aug 2032
Words exchanged at Südtirol
Daniele Casiraghi 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 Aug 2032
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrea Giorgini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2032
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Audace Cerignola have kept their man, and Südtirol go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad9 Aug 2032
A muscle injury sidelines Realdo Fili for 17 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Südtirol will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Boardroom9 Aug 2032
Wages eat 89% of everything Südtirol 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 dugout9 Aug 2032
Nobody at Südtirol 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout2 Aug 2032
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Squad2 Aug 2032
402 appearances across 9 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Südtirol know what they have.
Squad2 Aug 2032
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Karim Zedadka and Südtirol agree another 3 years.
Squad2 Aug 2032
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simone Davi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2032
Südtirol asked and Haladas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad2 Aug 2032
A falling-out at Südtirol
Néstor Trejo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2032
AS Roma 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.
The dugout2 Aug 2032
“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.
Market2 Aug 2032
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Francesco Gisondi’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets26 Jul 2032
Südtirol 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.
Squad26 Jul 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Südtirol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jul 2032
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Giuseppe Scognamiglio is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Boardroom26 Jul 2032
The numbers do not look good at Südtirol
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.
Squad26 Jul 2032
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Giorgini 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.
Boardroom26 Jul 2032
Carrarese will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Mario Fiorentino has pre-agreed a move to Südtirol, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2032
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Parma have kept their man, and Südtirol go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad26 Jul 2032
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Südtirol can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2032
Südtirol have made the call to Ravenna. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom19 Jul 2032
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Südtirol
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market19 Jul 2032
“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 Südtirol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market19 Jul 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Südtirol is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2032
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: AC Milan keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Boardroom19 Jul 2032
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Néstor Trejo has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad19 Jul 2032
A falling-out at Südtirol
Daniele Casiraghi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Jul 2032
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrea Giorgini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2032
Südtirol asked and Fiorentina said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2032
Südtirol have made the call to Benevento. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces12 Jul 2032
The mood at Südtirol has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2032
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Reggiana is saying, and nobody at Südtirol is enjoying the guessing.
Squad12 Jul 2032
Words exchanged at Südtirol
Daniele Casiraghi 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.
Squad12 Jul 2032
Morten Normann gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Morten Normann has just signed for Südtirol, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad12 Jul 2032
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Davi 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.
Boardroom12 Jul 2032
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2032
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.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2032
A loan move for Samuele Ranieri is in the works
Südtirol have made the call to Fiorentina. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Boardroom12 Jul 2032
Wages swallow 89% of the Südtirol 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout5 Jul 2032
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Transfer targets5 Jul 2032
No thanks: Luigi Bruno rejects the move
Südtirol 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.
Squad5 Jul 2032
Daniele Casiraghi 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.
Squad5 Jul 2032
Andrea Giorgini 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.
Boardroom5 Jul 2032
Cavese will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Emil Morgan has pre-agreed a move to Südtirol, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2032
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.
Market5 Jul 2032
He signed expecting a bigger stage than the one he found. It has not taken long, and it has not taken the dressing room long to notice either.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2032
A loan enquiry to Ruch: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2032
A loan move for Elia Calabrese is in the works
Südtirol have made the call to Fiorentina. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market28 Jun 2032
“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 Südtirol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2032
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Sassuolo keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Boardroom28 Jun 2032
The numbers do not look good at Südtirol
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.
Squad28 Jun 2032
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrea Giorgini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom28 Jun 2032
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Tommaso De Angelis has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Südtirol have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2032
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AS Roma have kept their man, and Südtirol go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad28 Jun 2032
Words exchanged at Südtirol
Umberto Tedesco 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2032
A loan move for Lorenzo Miconi is in the works
Südtirol have made the call to Lazio. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2032
A loan enquiry to AS Roma: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom21 Jun 2032
Pressure builds in the Südtirol boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad21 Jun 2032
Gianluca Ricci damages knee ligaments — 17 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
Market21 Jun 2032
“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 Südtirol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2032
Südtirol had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at AC Milan, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad21 Jun 2032
Words exchanged at Südtirol
Andrea Giorgini 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.
Squad21 Jun 2032
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simone Davi 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.
Squad21 Jun 2032
A muscle injury and 14 days out for Ntisikelelo Mbele
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Südtirol will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2032
Südtirol have made the call to AS Roma. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout21 Jun 2032
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Jun 2032
Gianluca Ricci damages knee ligaments — 24 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
The terraces14 Jun 2032
The mood at Südtirol has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market14 Jun 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Südtirol can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2032
Everything agreed with Fiorentina, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2032
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Napoli is saying, and nobody at Südtirol is enjoying the guessing.
Boardroom14 Jun 2032
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.
Squad14 Jun 2032
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrea Giorgini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2032
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sampdoria have kept their man, and Südtirol go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Jun 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Südtirol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Jun 2032
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Südtirol lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom7 Jun 2032
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.
The dugout7 Jun 2032
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Transfer targets7 Jun 2032
Everything agreed with Fiorentina, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad7 Jun 2032
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Daniele Casiraghi commits to Südtirol for another 2 years.
Squad7 Jun 2032
Daniele Casiraghi 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.
Squad7 Jun 2032
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrea Giorgini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2032
Südtirol asked and Catanzaro said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2032
Bologna 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
Crisis
Market31 May 2032
“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 Südtirol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 May 2032
Andrea Giorgini 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.
Boardroom31 May 2032
Belts tighten at Südtirol
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad31 May 2032
Daniele Casiraghi 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 dugout31 May 2032
“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.
Market31 May 2032
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Südtirol know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout31 May 2032
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.
The dugout31 May 2032
Martín Marta 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 Südtirol, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad31 May 2032
The training reports on Francesco Gisondi are not good
A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom24 May 2032
The scrutiny sharpens at Südtirol
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Südtirol is running low.
Market24 May 2032
Martín Marta hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Südtirol can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout24 May 2032
“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.
Squad24 May 2032
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrea Giorgini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad24 May 2032
Tiago Massa 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 Südtirol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2032
“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; Südtirol are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout24 May 2032
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 Andrea Giorgini is on it.
Market24 May 2032
The name of Francesco Gisondi keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Südtirol say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout24 May 2032
Carmelo Forti 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 Carmelo Forti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces17 May 2032
Anger at Südtirol spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match17 May 2032
Südtirol finish in position 17
33 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Squad17 May 2032
Words exchanged at Südtirol
Daniele Casiraghi 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.
Squad17 May 2032
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Giorgini 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.
Match15 May 2032
Südtirol rescue it on 93 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 93. Cesena had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Boardroom17 May 2032
Wages eat 91% of everything Südtirol 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.
Match15 May 2032
It needed Tiago Massa to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Cesena, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout17 May 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Néstor Trejo, and the manager let it.
The dugout17 May 2032
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Gregorio Parisi was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Südtirol dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 May 2032
Every point is an argument now for Südtirol
Position 18 and 32 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.
Match8 May 2032
0‑3 to Empoli, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad10 May 2032
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
The dugout10 May 2032
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Market10 May 2032
“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 Südtirol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad10 May 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Südtirol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2032
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniele Casiraghi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom10 May 2032
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout10 May 2032
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 May 2032
16 goals and a season average of 7.30. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Boardroom3 May 2032
Belts tighten at Südtirol
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Match1 May 2032
It had gone 6 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad3 May 2032
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrea Giorgini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match1 May 2032
It finished 2‑1, and it was Destiny Elimoghale’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Südtirol.
Squad3 May 2032
A falling-out at Südtirol
Tiago Massa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings3 May 2032
Marked 8.15. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Südtirol.
Squad3 May 2032
Umberto Tedesco named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Umberto Tedesco is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout3 May 2032
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Apr 2032
Südtirol throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Padova the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Südtirol will enjoy reviewing.
Boardroom26 Apr 2032
The scrutiny sharpens at Südtirol
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Südtirol is running low.
Player ratings26 Apr 2032
A brace, and Destiny Elimoghale takes the afternoon — 9.11
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Destiny Elimoghale provided it, and the 9.11 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match24 Apr 2032
No end in sight to Südtirol's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Südtirol has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad26 Apr 2032
15 goals and a season average of 7.28. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad26 Apr 2032
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrea Giorgini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad26 Apr 2032
Tiago Massa 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 Südtirol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces26 Apr 2032
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Destiny Elimoghale has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The dugout26 Apr 2032
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces19 Apr 2032
Anger at Südtirol spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match17 Apr 2032
The wait goes on for Südtirol
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.
Match17 Apr 2032
The goals have deserted Südtirol
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Südtirol can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad19 Apr 2032
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniele Casiraghi 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.
Squad19 Apr 2032
Tiago Massa 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 dugout19 Apr 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Karim Zedadka, and the manager let it.
Player ratings19 Apr 2032
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Boardroom19 Apr 2032
Wages swallow 117% of the Südtirol 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.
Player ratings19 Apr 2032
15 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Apr 2032
Beaten 0‑5 by Frosinone, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
The dugout12 Apr 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market12 Apr 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Südtirol can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout12 Apr 2032
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Südtirol have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match10 Apr 2032
The wait goes on for Südtirol
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.
Match10 Apr 2032
The goals have deserted Südtirol
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Südtirol can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad12 Apr 2032
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Giorgini 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.
Squad12 Apr 2032
13 goals and a season average of 7.24. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad12 Apr 2032
Words exchanged at Südtirol
Tiago Massa 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Apr 2032
Nowhere to hide for Südtirol
0‑3 against Mantova, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad5 Apr 2032
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Südtirol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Apr 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Hamza El Kaouakibi and Südtirol agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom5 Apr 2032
Belts tighten at Südtirol
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad5 Apr 2032
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrea Giorgini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match3 Apr 2032
Südtirol cannot find the net
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.
Squad5 Apr 2032
“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 Südtirol know it.
Boardroom5 Apr 2032
Nobody left the Südtirol 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.
The dugout5 Apr 2032
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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Gregorio Parisi to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom29 Mar 2032
The scrutiny sharpens at Südtirol
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Südtirol is running low.
Squad29 Mar 2032
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.
Squad29 Mar 2032
Words exchanged at Südtirol
Andrea Giorgini 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.
Squad29 Mar 2032
Daniele Casiraghi 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.
Squad29 Mar 2032
“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; Südtirol are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Player ratings29 Mar 2032
Defensive actions: 16. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
The dugout29 Mar 2032
Andrea Giorgini has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Südtirol 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.
The dugout29 Mar 2032
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Gregorio Parisi after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Market29 Mar 2032
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Giordano Turrini has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Südtirol.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces22 Mar 2032
The mood at Südtirol has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match20 Mar 2032
Nowhere to hide for Südtirol
0‑3 against Bari, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad22 Mar 2032
There were 7 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.
Squad22 Mar 2032
Andrea Giorgini 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.
Squad22 Mar 2032
Giovanni Percassi 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.
Squad22 Mar 2032
“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; Südtirol are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Boardroom22 Mar 2032
119% of the income goes out in wages at Südtirol
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 dugout22 Mar 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Néstor Trejo, and the manager let it.
Boardroom22 Mar 2032
Nobody left the Südtirol 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.
In brief
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
Player ratings
Karim Zedadka runs at them all day
-
Market
Simone Davi linked with a move away
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Mar 2032
There were 7 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.
The dugout15 Mar 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market15 Mar 2032
“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.
Squad15 Mar 2032
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Giorgini 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.
Squad15 Mar 2032
Defences have started doubling up on Destiny Elimoghale
13 goals and a season average of 7.24 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match13 Mar 2032
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Destiny Elimoghale. 2‑1 against Catanzaro, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad15 Mar 2032
A falling-out at Südtirol
Tiago Massa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces15 Mar 2032
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Giovanni Percassi 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.
Player ratings15 Mar 2032
Marked 8.16 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom8 Mar 2032
Gregorio Parisi has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Südtirol can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Match6 Mar 2032
No end in sight to Südtirol's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Südtirol has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom8 Mar 2032
Belts tighten at Südtirol
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad8 Mar 2032
Daniele Casiraghi 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.
Match6 Mar 2032
Südtirol cannot find the net
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.
Match6 Mar 2032
No clean sheets in sight for Südtirol
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad8 Mar 2032
A falling-out at Südtirol
Néstor Trejo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match6 Mar 2032
0‑2 to Cremonese, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad8 Mar 2032
12 goals and a season average of 7.22. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom1 Mar 2032
Pressure builds in the Südtirol boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad1 Mar 2032
Andrea Giorgini 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.
Squad1 Mar 2032
Tiago Massa 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.
Match28 Feb 2032
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings1 Mar 2032
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout1 Mar 2032
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Gregorio Parisi after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout1 Mar 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Martín Marta, and the manager let it.
The dugout1 Mar 2032
Andrea Giorgini has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Südtirol 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.
The dugout1 Mar 2032
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Francesco Gisondi is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces23 Feb 2032
Supporters organise against the Südtirol board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Match21 Feb 2032
Chastening afternoon for Südtirol
A 0‑3 beating by Monza was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad23 Feb 2032
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The dugout23 Feb 2032
Martín Marta: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Südtirol have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad23 Feb 2032
A falling-out at Südtirol
Daniele Casiraghi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Feb 2032
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Giorgini 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.
Boardroom23 Feb 2032
123% of the income goes out in wages at Südtirol
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 dugout23 Feb 2032
The manager makes an example of Néstor Trejo
“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.
Boardroom23 Feb 2032
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match14 Feb 2032
Südtirol throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Pescara the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Südtirol will enjoy reviewing.
Player ratings16 Feb 2032
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings16 Feb 2032
Marked 7.63 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
The dugout16 Feb 2032
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Player ratings16 Feb 2032
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.97 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad16 Feb 2032
Andrea Giorgini 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.
Squad16 Feb 2032
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniele Casiraghi 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 dugout16 Feb 2032
“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.
Match14 Feb 2032
A 2‑2 draw with Pescara leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match7 Feb 2032
The drought breaks for Südtirol
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Sampdoria were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Boardroom9 Feb 2032
Belts tighten at Südtirol
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad9 Feb 2032
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Giorgini 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.
Squad9 Feb 2032
Words exchanged at Südtirol
Tiago Massa 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 terraces9 Feb 2032
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Destiny Elimoghale 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.
Squad9 Feb 2032
Defences have started doubling up on Destiny Elimoghale
12 goals and a season average of 7.23 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match7 Feb 2032
Three points for Südtirol, 1‑0 the final word against Sampdoria in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings9 Feb 2032
Destiny Elimoghale was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.43. 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.
Player ratings9 Feb 2032
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match31 Jan 2032
The wait goes on for Südtirol
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.
Boardroom2 Feb 2032
Deadline passes with 3 signed and 8 gone
That is the business done at Südtirol 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 dugout2 Feb 2032
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Südtirol may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match31 Jan 2032
Südtirol cannot find the net
4 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.
Player ratings2 Feb 2032
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Feb 2032
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrea Giorgini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad2 Feb 2032
“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 Südtirol know it.
Transfer targets2 Feb 2032
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Audace Cerignola have kept their man, and Südtirol go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad2 Feb 2032
Giovanni Percassi 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces26 Jan 2032
Supporters organise against the Südtirol board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Match24 Jan 2032
0‑3 to Avellino, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market26 Jan 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Südtirol can pretend not to have heard.
Match24 Jan 2032
The wait goes on for Südtirol
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.
Squad26 Jan 2032
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniele Casiraghi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match24 Jan 2032
Südtirol cannot find the net
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.
Transfer targets26 Jan 2032
Südtirol asked and Macarthur FC said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad26 Jan 2032
Tiago Massa 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 Südtirol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom26 Jan 2032
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
In brief
-
Player ratings
Nobody could get near Karim Zedadka
-
Boardroom
Wages swallow 99% of the Südtirol income
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout19 Jan 2032
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Match17 Jan 2032
The wait goes on for Südtirol
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.
Squad19 Jan 2032
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Giorgini 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 targets19 Jan 2032
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.
Squad19 Jan 2032
A falling-out at Südtirol
Tiago Massa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings19 Jan 2032
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match17 Jan 2032
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout19 Jan 2032
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Transfer targets19 Jan 2032
A loan move for Jael Norville is in the works
Südtirol have made the call to Macarthur FC. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Jan 2032
Rufat Ozobic hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Südtirol can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets12 Jan 2032
Everything agreed with Fiorentina, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets12 Jan 2032
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at AS Roma is saying, and nobody at Südtirol is enjoying the guessing.
Match10 Jan 2032
The wait goes on for Südtirol
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.
Squad12 Jan 2032
Daniele Casiraghi 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.
Player ratings12 Jan 2032
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom12 Jan 2032
The numbers do not look good at Südtirol
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.
Squad12 Jan 2032
Andrea Giorgini 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 targets12 Jan 2032
AC Milan 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
Crisis
Market5 Jan 2032
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Südtirol can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets5 Jan 2032
Everything agreed with Catanzaro, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad5 Jan 2032
A falling-out at Südtirol
Andrea Giorgini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Jan 2032
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniele Casiraghi 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.
Squad5 Jan 2032
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Tiago Massa commits to Südtirol for another 4 years.
Player ratings5 Jan 2032
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.
Match3 Jan 2032
Cesena left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market5 Jan 2032
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Südtirol has been clear about where Alessandro Vimercati stands, which is more than many ever get.
Match5 Jan 2032
Halfway: Südtirol sit in position 17
17 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces29 Dec 2031
Anger at Südtirol spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad29 Dec 2031
There were 8 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 ratings29 Dec 2031
A defender's goal wins it for Südtirol — 7.81
1 for Federico Davi, marked 7.81, 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.
Squad29 Dec 2031
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrea Giorgini 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.
Squad29 Dec 2031
A falling-out at Südtirol
Federico Davi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom29 Dec 2031
Wages eat 96% of everything Südtirol 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 dugout29 Dec 2031
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.
Match27 Dec 2031
It needed Federico Davi to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Empoli, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout29 Dec 2031
Néstor Trejo 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout22 Dec 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market22 Dec 2031
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Paul Weissensteiner will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Südtirol the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings22 Dec 2031
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad22 Dec 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Südtirol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Dec 2031
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrea Giorgini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match20 Dec 2031
Modena left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout22 Dec 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 Gregorio Parisi to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout22 Dec 2031
“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 dugout22 Dec 2031
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
Squad15 Dec 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Südtirol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings15 Dec 2031
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom15 Dec 2031
The numbers do not look good at Südtirol
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.
Squad15 Dec 2031
Daniele Casiraghi 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 terraces15 Dec 2031
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Destiny Elimoghale 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.
Match13 Dec 2031
The drought breaks for Südtirol
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Padova were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Match13 Dec 2031
It finished 1‑0, and it was Destiny Elimoghale’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Südtirol.
Player ratings15 Dec 2031
A performance of 8.18 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout15 Dec 2031
Tiago Massa 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Dec 2031
5 matches without a win for Südtirol
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Südtirol are no longer polite ones.
Match6 Dec 2031
4 matches without a goal for Südtirol
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.
Squad8 Dec 2031
Andrea Giorgini 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.
Squad8 Dec 2031
Words exchanged at Südtirol
Federico Davi 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.
Match6 Dec 2031
Reggiana left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout8 Dec 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 Gregorio Parisi to a room that had heard them before.
Squad8 Dec 2031
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout8 Dec 2031
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.
The dugout8 Dec 2031
Nobody at Südtirol 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces1 Dec 2031
The mood at Südtirol has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market1 Dec 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Südtirol can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Dec 2031
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.
Match29 Nov 2031
No end in sight to Südtirol's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Südtirol has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad1 Dec 2031
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrea Giorgini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match29 Nov 2031
The goals have deserted Südtirol
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Südtirol can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad1 Dec 2031
“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 Südtirol know it.
Squad1 Dec 2031
A falling-out at Südtirol
Federico Davi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match29 Nov 2031
Frosinone left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
Boardroom
Wages eat 85% of everything Südtirol earn
-
The dugout
Andrea Giorgini gets picked when it counts
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Nov 2031
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.
The dugout24 Nov 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market24 Nov 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Südtirol they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad24 Nov 2031
A muscle injury sidelines Daniele Casiraghi for 16 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Südtirol will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad24 Nov 2031
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniele Casiraghi 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.
Squad24 Nov 2031
A falling-out at Südtirol
Tiago Massa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout24 Nov 2031
“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 dugout24 Nov 2031
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Gregorio Parisi after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Match22 Nov 2031
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Mantova came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Nov 2031
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.
Boardroom17 Nov 2031
Belts tighten at Südtirol
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad17 Nov 2031
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniele Casiraghi 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.
Squad17 Nov 2031
Federico Davi 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.
Match15 Nov 2031
0‑1 to Sassuolo, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings17 Nov 2031
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout17 Nov 2031
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 Gregorio Parisi left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout17 Nov 2031
Nobody at Südtirol 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.
Market17 Nov 2031
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Francesco Gisondi’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Nov 2031
Words exchanged at Südtirol
Daniele Casiraghi 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.
Squad10 Nov 2031
Andrea Giorgini 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.
Match8 Nov 2031
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout10 Nov 2031
“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 ratings10 Nov 2031
A performance of 8.11 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad10 Nov 2031
“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 Südtirol know it.
The dugout10 Nov 2031
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 Gregorio Parisi left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout10 Nov 2031
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 Vimercati is on it.
Squad10 Nov 2031
Umberto Tedesco, 19, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where Südtirol would like this to lead.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces3 Nov 2031
Anger at Südtirol spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The dugout3 Nov 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Südtirol may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad3 Nov 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniele Casiraghi and Südtirol agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Nov 2031
Words exchanged at Südtirol
Andrea Giorgini 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 Nov 2031
Daniele Casiraghi 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 terraces3 Nov 2031
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Destiny Elimoghale 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.
Match1 Nov 2031
Three points for Südtirol, 1‑0 the final word against Catanzaro in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings3 Nov 2031
Marked 8.51 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad3 Nov 2031
A muscle injury and 14 days out for Gennaro Galli
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Südtirol will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
In brief
-
Boardroom
Wages eat 88% of everything Südtirol earn
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
The dugout
Andrea Giorgini has become a man the manager trusts
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout27 Oct 2031
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Market27 Oct 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Südtirol is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match25 Oct 2031
The wait goes on for Südtirol
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.
Squad27 Oct 2031
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniele Casiraghi 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.
Squad27 Oct 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Südtirol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout27 Oct 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tiago Massa, and the manager let it.
Player ratings27 Oct 2031
Defensive actions: 17. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
The dugout27 Oct 2031
“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.
Player ratings27 Oct 2031
14 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Oct 2031
The match ball belongs to Destiny Elimoghale, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings20 Oct 2031
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.72, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Boardroom20 Oct 2031
Belts tighten at Südtirol
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Player ratings20 Oct 2031
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad20 Oct 2031
Words exchanged at Südtirol
Tiago Massa 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 Oct 2031
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Davi 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.
Match18 Oct 2031
A point taken on 89 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.
Match18 Oct 2031
It finished 3‑3, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout20 Oct 2031
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 3‑3 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Oct 2031
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
The dugout13 Oct 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Südtirol may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad13 Oct 2031
A falling-out at Südtirol
Andrea Giorgini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Oct 2031
Daniele Casiraghi 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.
Match11 Oct 2031
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout13 Oct 2031
“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 dugout13 Oct 2031
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Market13 Oct 2031
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Paul Weissensteiner has his answer from Südtirol; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Player ratings13 Oct 2031
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces6 Oct 2031
The mood at Südtirol has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad6 Oct 2031
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.
Squad6 Oct 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Simone Davi and Südtirol agree another 4 years.
Squad6 Oct 2031
Daniele Casiraghi 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.
Match4 Oct 2031
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad6 Oct 2031
A falling-out at Südtirol
Federico Davi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout6 Oct 2031
“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.
Player ratings6 Oct 2031
Marked 8.13 — 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 dugout6 Oct 2031
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Gregorio Parisi after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match24 Sep 2031
The cup run ends for Südtirol
1‑2 against Campobasso, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Player ratings29 Sep 2031
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.94, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match27 Sep 2031
There were 87 minutes on the clock and Sampdoria had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Südtirol did not stop to explain themselves.
Squad29 Sep 2031
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.
Player ratings29 Sep 2031
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.26, and nobody on the pitch better.
The dugout29 Sep 2031
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The dugout29 Sep 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Südtirol may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market29 Sep 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Südtirol is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad29 Sep 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Südtirol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Sep 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Südtirol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom22 Sep 2031
The numbers do not look good at Südtirol
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.
Squad22 Sep 2031
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniele Casiraghi 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.
Match20 Sep 2031
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad22 Sep 2031
100 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.
Player ratings22 Sep 2031
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout22 Sep 2031
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout22 Sep 2031
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Destiny Elimoghale trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market22 Sep 2031
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Giordano Turrini has his answer from Südtirol; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout15 Sep 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Südtirol may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad15 Sep 2031
A falling-out at Südtirol
Andrea Giorgini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Sep 2031
Daniele Casiraghi 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.
Match13 Sep 2031
Avellino left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout15 Sep 2031
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Gregorio Parisi after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout15 Sep 2031
“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 dugout15 Sep 2031
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 Vimercati is on it.
Player ratings15 Sep 2031
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market15 Sep 2031
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Andrea Giorgini signs something — a contract at Südtirol or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces8 Sep 2031
Supporters organise against the Südtirol board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad8 Sep 2031
404 appearances across 14 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Südtirol know what they have.
Player ratings8 Sep 2031
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom8 Sep 2031
The instruction came from the boardroom and the dugout did not agree with it. Somebody will go, the fee will be called good business, and the manager will spend the season rebuilding around the space.
Squad8 Sep 2031
A falling-out at Südtirol
Daniele Casiraghi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Sep 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Hamza El Kaouakibi and Südtirol agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Sep 2031
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Federico Davi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout8 Sep 2031
Tiago Massa 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 ratings8 Sep 2031
Nobody on the pitch touched Simone Davi
7.62, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Südtirol had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
In brief
-
Boardroom
89% of the income goes out in wages at Südtirol
-
The dugout
Andrea Giorgini has become a man the manager trusts
-
The dugout
The view from the dugout
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match30 Aug 2031
Carrarese will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Südtirol were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings1 Sep 2031
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.22, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market1 Sep 2031
Südtirol say no — this time
The offer from Mantova for Gabriele Platto 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.
Squad1 Sep 2031
403 appearances across 14 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Südtirol know what they have.
The dugout1 Sep 2031
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Player ratings1 Sep 2031
Defensive actions: 26, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Market1 Sep 2031
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Paul Weissensteiner will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Südtirol the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom1 Sep 2031
Deadline passes with 13 signed and 8 gone
That is the business done at Südtirol 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.
Match30 Aug 2031
At last: Südtirol win one
8 matches without a win, and then this, against Carrarese. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match25 Aug 2031
Südtirol sink to position 18
29 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Transfer targets25 Aug 2031
The deal with Kauno Zalgiris 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.
Squad25 Aug 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Südtirol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Rufat Ozobic is a better footballer than he was
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.
Boardroom25 Aug 2031
6 academy graduates step up at Südtirol
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.
Boardroom25 Aug 2031
Südtirol counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Südtirol now.
Squad25 Aug 2031
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniele Casiraghi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market25 Aug 2031
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Diego Cassano is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market25 Aug 2031
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Arturo Scalise is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market18 Aug 2031
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Padova waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Südtirol is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Boardroom18 Aug 2031
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Südtirol
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Paul Weissensteiner is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Gabriele Platto 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.
Transfer targets18 Aug 2031
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.
Squad18 Aug 2031
At 26 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.
Squad18 Aug 2031
Federico Davi 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 dugout18 Aug 2031
“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 dugout18 Aug 2031
Gabriele Platto has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Südtirol 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces11 Aug 2031
The mood at Südtirol has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market11 Aug 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Südtirol can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets11 Aug 2031
Everything agreed with Fiorentina, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Words exchanged at Südtirol
Andrea Giorgini 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.
Squad11 Aug 2031
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.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Daniele Casiraghi 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.
Squad11 Aug 2031
At 25 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 4 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Transfer targets11 Aug 2031
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.
The dugout11 Aug 2031
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market4 Aug 2031
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Mantova had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The dugout4 Aug 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market4 Aug 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Südtirol is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad4 Aug 2031
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Destiny Elimoghale is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad4 Aug 2031
Andrea Giorgini 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.
Squad4 Aug 2031
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniele Casiraghi 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.
Squad4 Aug 2031
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.
Transfer targets4 Aug 2031
Südtirol asked and Ternana said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market4 Aug 2031
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Arturo Mariani has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Jul 2031
Südtirol sink to position 18
29 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market28 Jul 2031
“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 Südtirol, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Gabriele Platto is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Daniele Casiraghi 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.
Boardroom28 Jul 2031
Südtirol counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Südtirol now.
Squad28 Jul 2031
“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 Südtirol know it.
Transfer targets28 Jul 2031
Südtirol 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.
Squad28 Jul 2031
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Federico Davi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Jul 2031
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gabriele Platto trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market21 Jul 2031
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Südtirol people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Boardroom21 Jul 2031
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Südtirol
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad21 Jul 2031
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Paul Weissensteiner is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad21 Jul 2031
A falling-out at Südtirol
Andrea Giorgini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Jul 2031
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniele Casiraghi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Jul 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tiago Massa, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Jul 2031
Nobody at Südtirol 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.
Squad21 Jul 2031
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.
Market21 Jul 2031
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Andrea Giorgini signs something — a contract at Südtirol or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces14 Jul 2031
The mood at Südtirol has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market14 Jul 2031
“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 targets14 Jul 2031
Everything agreed with Juventus, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Giuseppe Scognamiglio is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Jul 2031
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.
Transfer targets14 Jul 2031
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.
Squad14 Jul 2031
A falling-out at Südtirol
Federico Davi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hamza El Kaouakibi 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 targets14 Jul 2031
AS Roma 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
Crisis
The dugout7 Jul 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market7 Jul 2031
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Paul Weissensteiner will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Südtirol the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Words exchanged at Südtirol
Andrea Giorgini 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.
Transfer targets7 Jul 2031
Südtirol asked and AS Roma said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Federico Davi 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.
Squad7 Jul 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Carmelo Forti commits to Südtirol for another 3 years.
Market7 Jul 2031
“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.
Boardroom7 Jul 2031
Wages eat 90% of everything Südtirol 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.
Transfer targets7 Jul 2031
A loan move for Simon Lleshi is in the works
Südtirol have made the call to Inter. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match30 Jun 2031
Südtirol are in real trouble now
Position 18, 29 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.
Market30 Jun 2031
“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 targets30 Jun 2031
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Südtirol have done the hard part with Udinese, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Words exchanged at Südtirol
Daniele Casiraghi 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.
Boardroom30 Jun 2031
The numbers do not look good at Südtirol
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.
Transfer targets30 Jun 2031
Südtirol asked and Ternana said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hamza El Kaouakibi 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.
Squad30 Jun 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Massimo Lombardo commits to Südtirol for another 4 years.
The dugout30 Jun 2031
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Südtirol told Domenico Pugliese something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom23 Jun 2031
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Südtirol
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The dugout23 Jun 2031
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Südtirol have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad23 Jun 2031
Daniele Casiraghi 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 Jun 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Giovanni Percassi and Südtirol agree another 4 years.
Transfer targets23 Jun 2031
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.
Squad23 Jun 2031
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hamza El Kaouakibi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout23 Jun 2031
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.
The dugout23 Jun 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joar Bautista, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Jun 2031
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces16 Jun 2031
Supporters organise against the Südtirol board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Market16 Jun 2031
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad16 Jun 2031
The division’s best young player: Umberto Tedesco
A whole season of being the finest 19-year-old anybody in this league could put on a pitch. Südtirol have him, and everybody else now knows it.
Squad16 Jun 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Südtirol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout16 Jun 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Francesco Gisondi, and the manager let it.
Squad16 Jun 2031
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Davi 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 Jun 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Umberto Tedesco and Südtirol agree another 3 years.
Transfer targets16 Jun 2031
Südtirol have made the call to Juventus. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets16 Jun 2031
A loan enquiry to AS Roma: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout9 Jun 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market9 Jun 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Südtirol is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad9 Jun 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gabriele Platto and Südtirol agree another 4 years.
Squad9 Jun 2031
A falling-out at Südtirol
Daniele Casiraghi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Jun 2031
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hamza El Kaouakibi 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 targets9 Jun 2031
A loan enquiry to Fiorentina: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets9 Jun 2031
A loan enquiry to Fiorentina: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Boardroom9 Jun 2031
87% of the income goes out in wages at Südtirol
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 dugout9 Jun 2031
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 Andrea Giorgini is on it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom2 Jun 2031
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.
Match2 Jun 2031
Südtirol are in real trouble now
Position 18, 29 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.
Market2 Jun 2031
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Südtirol have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad2 Jun 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Gabriele Platto commits to Südtirol for another 4 years.
Squad2 Jun 2031
Words exchanged at Südtirol
Daniele Casiraghi 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.
Boardroom2 Jun 2031
The numbers do not look good at Südtirol
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.
Squad2 Jun 2031
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hamza El Kaouakibi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad2 Jun 2031
“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 Südtirol know it.
Transfer targets2 Jun 2031
A loan enquiry to AS Roma: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom26 May 2031
The scrutiny sharpens at Südtirol
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Südtirol is running low.
Squad26 May 2031
Words exchanged at Südtirol
Gabriele Platto 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.
Squad26 May 2031
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Südtirol can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout26 May 2031
The manager makes an example of Gabriele Platto
“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.
Squad26 May 2031
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Davi 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 dugout26 May 2031
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.
Market26 May 2031
The name of Andrea Giorgini keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Südtirol say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout26 May 2031
“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
Tiago Massa has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Tiago Massa has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces19 May 2031
Supporters organise against the Südtirol board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Match19 May 2031
Südtirol finish in position 18
29 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Match17 May 2031
8 matches without a win for Südtirol
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Südtirol are no longer polite ones.
Squad19 May 2031
Andrea Giorgini 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.
Match17 May 2031
Catanzaro left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad19 May 2031
Hamza El Kaouakibi 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 dugout19 May 2031
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Player ratings19 May 2031
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout19 May 2031
Gabriele Platto has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Südtirol 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 May 2031
No end in sight to Südtirol's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Südtirol has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout12 May 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout12 May 2031
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Südtirol have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market12 May 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Südtirol they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad12 May 2031
A falling-out at Südtirol
Daniele Casiraghi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match10 May 2031
Como left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad12 May 2031
Hamza El Kaouakibi 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.
Squad12 May 2031
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The dugout12 May 2031
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Gregorio Parisi after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 May 2031
Beaten 0‑3 by Empoli, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match5 May 2031
Südtirol are in real trouble now
Position 18, 29 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.
Match3 May 2031
No end in sight to Südtirol's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Südtirol has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad5 May 2031
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.
Squad5 May 2031
Words exchanged at Südtirol
Daniele Casiraghi 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.
Boardroom5 May 2031
The numbers do not look good at Südtirol
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.
Match3 May 2031
Südtirol leaking at the back
4 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
The dugout5 May 2031
“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 May 2031
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Federico Davi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Apr 2031
Beaten 2‑5 by Juve Stabia, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Boardroom28 Apr 2031
Pressure builds in the Südtirol boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Player ratings28 Apr 2031
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.99 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match26 Apr 2031
5 matches without a win for Südtirol
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Südtirol are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings28 Apr 2031
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad28 Apr 2031
Daniele Casiraghi 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.
Match26 Apr 2031
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Südtirol and Juve Stabia in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The dugout28 Apr 2031
The manager makes an example of Gabriele Platto
“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.
Squad28 Apr 2031
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hamza El Kaouakibi 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces21 Apr 2031
The mood at Südtirol has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match19 Apr 2031
Chastening afternoon for Südtirol
A 1‑5 beating by Monza was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad21 Apr 2031
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.
The dugout21 Apr 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Südtirol may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match19 Apr 2031
4 matches without a win for Südtirol
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Südtirol are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Apr 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Südtirol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Apr 2031
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Südtirol and Monza, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad21 Apr 2031
50 goals for this club, and somewhere in the stand there is a person who can still tell you where they were for most of them.
Squad21 Apr 2031
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hamza El Kaouakibi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Apr 2031
Südtirol throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Pescara the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Südtirol will enjoy reviewing.
Player ratings14 Apr 2031
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.84, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
The dugout14 Apr 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market14 Apr 2031
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Paul Weissensteiner will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Südtirol the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad14 Apr 2031
A falling-out at Südtirol
Daniele Casiraghi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces14 Apr 2031
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Gabriele Platto 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.
Squad14 Apr 2031
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Federico Davi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 Apr 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Rufat Ozobic commits to Südtirol for another 4 years.
Match12 Apr 2031
A 2‑2 draw with Pescara leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Apr 2031
Südtirol sink to position 18
28 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad7 Apr 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Daniele Casiraghi and Südtirol agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings7 Apr 2031
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad7 Apr 2031
Tiago Massa 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.
Match5 Apr 2031
Sampdoria left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 Apr 2031
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hamza El Kaouakibi 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.
Market7 Apr 2031
Still no offer on the table, and Gabriele Platto’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Gregorio Parisi to a room that had heard them before.
Boardroom7 Apr 2031
Wages eat 92% of everything Südtirol 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Mar 2031
Chastening afternoon for Südtirol
A 1‑5 beating by Mantova was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Boardroom31 Mar 2031
The scrutiny sharpens at Südtirol
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Südtirol is running low.
Squad31 Mar 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Südtirol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match29 Mar 2031
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Südtirol and Mantova in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad31 Mar 2031
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hamza El Kaouakibi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings31 Mar 2031
Hamza El Kaouakibi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.29. 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.
Player ratings31 Mar 2031
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Looking ahead31 Mar 2031
A six-pointer for Südtirol
Sampdoria next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
The dugout31 Mar 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Giovanni Percassi, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match22 Mar 2031
The drought breaks for Südtirol
16 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Virtus Entella were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
The terraces24 Mar 2031
The mood at Südtirol has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Player ratings24 Mar 2031
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
Squad24 Mar 2031
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.
Squad24 Mar 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Südtirol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Mar 2031
“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; Südtirol are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The terraces24 Mar 2031
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.
Match22 Mar 2031
Three points for Südtirol, 2‑0 the final word against Virtus Entella in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Davi 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match15 Mar 2031
No end in sight to Südtirol's wait for a win
16 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Südtirol has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings17 Mar 2031
A brace, and Gabriele Platto takes the afternoon — 8.95
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gabriele Platto provided it, and the 8.95 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad17 Mar 2031
There were 7 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.
The dugout17 Mar 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market17 Mar 2031
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Paul Weissensteiner will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Südtirol the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market17 Mar 2031
Andrea Giorgini wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Südtirol hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad17 Mar 2031
A falling-out at Südtirol
Daniele Casiraghi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces17 Mar 2031
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Gabriele Platto 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.
Squad17 Mar 2031
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hamza El Kaouakibi 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match8 Mar 2031
No end in sight to Südtirol's wait for a win
15 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Südtirol has to find a result from somewhere.
Match10 Mar 2031
Every point is an argument now for Südtirol
Position 18 and 24 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.
Player ratings10 Mar 2031
At 38 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.82 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad10 Mar 2031
Words exchanged at Südtirol
Daniele Casiraghi 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.
Squad10 Mar 2031
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hamza El Kaouakibi 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.
Looking ahead10 Mar 2031
A six-pointer for Südtirol
Carrarese next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
Squad10 Mar 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Massimo Lombardo commits to Südtirol for another 4 years.
Player ratings10 Mar 2031
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match8 Mar 2031
It needed Gabriele Platto to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Cesena, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match1 Mar 2031
No end in sight to Südtirol's wait for a win
14 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Südtirol has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom3 Mar 2031
The scrutiny sharpens at Südtirol
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Südtirol is running low.
Squad3 Mar 2031
Daniele Casiraghi 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 Mar 2031
Federico Davi 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 dugout3 Mar 2031
The manager makes an example of Tiago Massa
“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.
Squad3 Mar 2031
A place in the month's best eleven for Raffaele Medici
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Raffaele Medici has come out of that comparison in the side, and Südtirol have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Match1 Mar 2031
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout3 Mar 2031
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.
Squad3 Mar 2031
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Domenico Pugliese is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Feb 2031
13 matches without a win for Südtirol
The run now stands at 13, and the questions being asked around Südtirol are no longer polite ones.
Match22 Feb 2031
0‑4 to Genoa, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The terraces24 Feb 2031
Anger at Südtirol spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market24 Feb 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Südtirol can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Feb 2031
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.
Squad24 Feb 2031
Andrea Giorgini 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 Feb 2031
Daniele Casiraghi 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.
Match22 Feb 2031
3 matches without a goal for Südtirol
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.
The dugout24 Feb 2031
“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.
In brief
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Boardroom
Nobody left the Südtirol dressing room in a hurry
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Player ratings
Hamza El Kaouakibi gives it away
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match15 Feb 2031
No end in sight to Südtirol's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Südtirol has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout17 Feb 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market17 Feb 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Südtirol is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout17 Feb 2031
“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.
Squad17 Feb 2031
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniele Casiraghi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad17 Feb 2031
A falling-out at Südtirol
Federico Davi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings17 Feb 2031
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.51 on the card, and the Südtirol support went home talking about one name.
The dugout17 Feb 2031
Domenico Pugliese 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.
The dugout17 Feb 2031
The manager makes an example of Federico Pavan
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match8 Feb 2031
The wait goes on for Südtirol
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.
Match10 Feb 2031
Südtirol are in real trouble now
Position 18, 21 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.
Player ratings10 Feb 2031
Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad10 Feb 2031
A falling-out at Südtirol
Andrea Giorgini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Feb 2031
39 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad10 Feb 2031
Federico Davi 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.
Market10 Feb 2031
4 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Squad10 Feb 2031
“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 Südtirol know it.
Player ratings10 Feb 2031
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.42 on the card, and the Südtirol support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Feb 2031
No end in sight to Südtirol's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Südtirol has to find a result from somewhere.
Market3 Feb 2031
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sampdoria waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Südtirol is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Boardroom3 Feb 2031
Window shuts: 0 in, 1 out at Südtirol
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets3 Feb 2031
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Lecco keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad3 Feb 2031
Daniele Casiraghi 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.
Match1 Feb 2031
Gabriele Platto scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Reggiana, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Player ratings3 Feb 2031
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad3 Feb 2031
Andrea Curatelo in trouble away from the ground
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
Squad3 Feb 2031
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hamza El Kaouakibi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Jan 2031
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match25 Jan 2031
9 matches without a win for Südtirol
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Südtirol are no longer polite ones.
The terraces27 Jan 2031
Supporters organise against the Südtirol board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Market27 Jan 2031
Andrea Giorgini wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Südtirol hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad27 Jan 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Südtirol this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Jan 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Silvio Iannuzzi commits to Südtirol for another 3 years.
Transfer targets27 Jan 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rotor have kept their man, and Südtirol go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces27 Jan 2031
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Francesco Gisondi 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.
Squad27 Jan 2031
Words at Südtirol training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hamza El Kaouakibi 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Jan 2031
Nowhere to hide for Südtirol
1‑4 against Avellino, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match18 Jan 2031
The wait goes on for Südtirol
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad20 Jan 2031
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.
The dugout20 Jan 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Transfer targets20 Jan 2031
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Fiorentina is saying, and nobody at Südtirol is enjoying the guessing.
Squad20 Jan 2031
A falling-out at Südtirol
Daniele Casiraghi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market20 Jan 2031
Add another name to the list: Sampdoria have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Paul Weissensteiner. The answer from Südtirol has not changed — yet.
Squad20 Jan 2031
“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; Südtirol are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Transfer targets20 Jan 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ternana have kept their man, and Südtirol go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Jan 2031
Südtirol sink to position 18
19 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market13 Jan 2031
Frosinone come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Südtirol did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Match11 Jan 2031
No end in sight to Südtirol's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Südtirol has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad13 Jan 2031
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match11 Jan 2031
Südtirol cannot find the net
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.
Transfer targets13 Jan 2031
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Juventus is saying, and nobody at Südtirol is enjoying the guessing.
Squad13 Jan 2031
Words exchanged at Südtirol
Daniele Casiraghi 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.
Match11 Jan 2031
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad13 Jan 2031
Hamza El Kaouakibi 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match4 Jan 2031
No end in sight to Südtirol's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Südtirol has to find a result from somewhere.
Match4 Jan 2031
Südtirol cannot find the net
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.
Transfer targets6 Jan 2031
Everything agreed with Fiorentina, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad6 Jan 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Karim Zedadka and Südtirol agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Jan 2031
Daniele Casiraghi 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.
Match4 Jan 2031
Catanzaro left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout6 Jan 2031
“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.
Squad6 Jan 2031
A row about effort at Südtirol
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hamza El Kaouakibi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match6 Jan 2031
Südtirol at the halfway mark
Half the programme played, position 18, 19 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.