The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Lorenzo Cancila did not need any: 7.83, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Juve Stabia go through and Ternana go home, 0‑0 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
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.
Marco Pagliari 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 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 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ternana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
11 combined actions and 6.27. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Angelo Ndrecka 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 Oct 2029
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Pagliari 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ternana know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Lorenzo Cancila did not need any: 7.97, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Lorenzo Cancila 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.
“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.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Papini is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Herculano Nabian was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexis Ferrante and Ternana agree another 2 years.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Pagliari 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Agustin Colmegna 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ternana is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 8.12 — 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.
Two goals and a mark of 7.87 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The terraces24 Sep 2029
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 7 of the 30 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Edoardo Colpo did not need any: 7.81, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Marco Pagliari was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ternana will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ternana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 8.11 — 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.
9 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ternana will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Angelo Ndrecka was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Pagliari is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Lorenzo Cancila did not need any: 8.27, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match1 Sep 2029
Another one collected away from home
7 on the bounce on the road for Ternana. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ternana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Lorenzo Cancila has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
A performance of 8.23 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Papini is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Angelo Ndrecka 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.
6 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Pagliari 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Massimo Piccini has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Vincenzo Chiari has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Gianmarco Verdi has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Flavio Borghi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Denis Franchi has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Luigi Delibra is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Marco Pagliari 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 name of Luigi Delibra has come up in conversations Ternana were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ternana is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Eldzhat Mamedov is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 58 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Agustin Colmegna is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadEtienne Catena has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ternana will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Angelo Ndrecka 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.
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Ternana would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ternana will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ternana will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ternana can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Marco Pagliari 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.
4 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ternana will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ternana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ternana is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ternana will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Angelo Ndrecka 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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Pagliari is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
$5.7M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ternana will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Position 3, 63 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Agustin Colmegna is living that version at Ternana, and it tends to show in the first month.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Federico Romeo was one of the reasons people came, and $5.7M does not replace that by itself.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ternana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Federico Romeo 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.
A conversation is coming this week. Ternana will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Pagliari is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ternana know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The terracesThe stands have heard the Federico Romeo talk too
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ternana can pretend not to have heard.
Federico Romeo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad28 May 2029
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Pagliari is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 May 2029
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soumaïla Diabaté 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.
Finlay Herrick was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
SquadWords at Ternana training over how hard people work
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ternana can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 May 2029
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soumaïla Diabaté 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.
In brief
SquadYann Gboua is the division's best young player this month
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ternana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Ternana will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Andrea Mussini did not need any: 8.50, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match14 Apr 2029
Another one collected away from home
6 on the bounce on the road for Ternana. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Federico Romeo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
21 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
At 21 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ternana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ternana can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soumaïla Diabaté 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.
Yann Gboua, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.12
A mark of 8.12 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Match31 Mar 2029
Another one collected away from home
5 on the bounce on the road for Ternana. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Federico Romeo 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.
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Pagliari 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marco Garetto. 2‑1 against Pineto, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Yann Gboua 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ternana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soumaïla Diabaté 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ternana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 89th, and Carpi spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Yann Gboua did not need any: 8.33, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Federico Romeo 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 Mar 2029
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Ternana. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
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.
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.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
Lamberto Peletti, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.67
A mark of 8.67 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ternana can pretend not to have heard.
Federico Papini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Federico Romeo. 3‑1 against Ravenna, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Garetto 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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Ravenna spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Yann Gboua, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.54
A mark of 8.54 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Federico Romeo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
Match3 Mar 2029
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Ternana. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
Federico Romeo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.68. 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.
In brief
Player ratingsMarco Garetto was on a different afternoon to everybody else
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ternana can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soumaïla Diabaté is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Nobody at Ternana 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ternana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The terraces19 Feb 2029
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 8 of the 30 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Lamberto Peletti did not need any: 8.09, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Federico Romeo 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.
1‑3 to Ascoli, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Marco Garetto 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Lamberto Peletti 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ternana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soumaïla Diabaté 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.
Marked 8.71 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Alexis Ferrante will call it something else in private.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Nicolò Lari reports back to Ternana with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Finlay Herrick was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Position 3, 42 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Three points for Ternana, 3‑1 the final word against Pianese in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Garetto 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.
Yann Gboua, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.29
A mark of 8.29 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Yann Gboua. 1‑0 against Guidonia Montecelio, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Filippo Calabrese has just signed for Ternana, and for once the answer mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soumaïla Diabaté 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Sean Corry has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Ternana have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Filippo Calabrese is 20, and Ternana have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Lorenzo Cancila did not need any: 7.81, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Federico Romeo 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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Pagliari 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.
Südtirol will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Luigi De Marco has pre-agreed a move to Ternana, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Lorenzo Cancila has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Marked 8.34 — 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.
“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 Ternana, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defensive actions: 22. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soumaïla Diabaté 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Federico Romeo. 1‑0 against Livorno, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
Federico Romeo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Federico Papini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Vis Pesaro? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Federico Romeo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Federico Romeo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Sambenedettese? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexis Ferrante signs something — a contract at Ternana or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ternana may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
The terraces4 Dec 2028
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 29 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Yann Gboua 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 Dec 2028
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soumaïla Diabaté 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.
Marked 5.24. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
Federico Romeo 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 Nov 2028
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Pagliari is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Ternana heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soumaïla Diabaté 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.
Marked 8.29 — 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Federico Romeo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A touch he did not want, a bounce he could not have read, and his name in the wrong column. There is no consoling a man after one of these, and Ternana will not try tonight.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexis Ferrante signs something — a contract at Ternana or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Virtus Entella ended it 1‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Yann Gboua, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.22
A mark of 8.22 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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 7.43 for the rest of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
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.
Finlay Herrick was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 10 of the 29 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soumaïla Diabaté is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ternana, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marco Pagliari 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.
Yann Gboua, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.82
A mark of 7.82 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Soumaïla Diabaté 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.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Ternana scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Two goals and a mark of 8.15 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Federico Romeo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A 3‑0 win over Giugliano, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match23 Sep 2028
Yann Gboua wins it after the whistle should have gone
91 minutes played. Yann Gboua found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Guidonia Montecelio went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Two goals and a mark of 8.54 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.96 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I 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.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Yann Gboua, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.83
A mark of 7.83 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Federico Romeo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ternana know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ternana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Matteo Grandi reports back to Ternana with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Marco Garetto was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.74. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ternana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces28 Aug 2028
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 9 of the 27 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
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.
Andrea Vallocchia 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.
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ternana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 29 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.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Riccardo Silvestri is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Silvio Alessi has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Martino Lombardo has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Umberto Milani is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
Position 3, 61 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Ternana heard it as anything else.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Lorenzo Cancila is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Federico Romeo 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Marco Pagliari has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 5 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The words a physio says slowly. 38 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Soumaïla Diabaté is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ternana know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ternana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Federico Romeo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
SquadFederico Romeo has improved at 26, which nobody expected
The words a physio says slowly. 54 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ternana can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ternana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Matteo Grandi has agreed terms with Bari for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Massimo Turella is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
62 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ternana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 3, 61 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Lamberto Peletti has just signed for Ternana, and for once the answer mattered.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Federico Romeo 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.
69 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ternana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Soumaïla Diabaté is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Federico Papini was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ternana know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
76 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ternana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Ternana, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Ternana heard it as anything else.
Federico Romeo 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 deal that would have taken Matteo Grandi to Ravenna has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Ternana with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
In brief
SquadWords at Ternana training over how hard people work
The words a physio says slowly. 84 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ternana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The words a physio says slowly. 91 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.
Position 3, 61 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Federico Romeo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julen Azkue is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The words a physio says slowly. 98 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Henrique Salomoni will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ternana the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deal that would have taken Tommaso Vitali to Alcione Milano has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Ternana with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enrico Brignola is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The words a physio says slowly. 105 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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The words a physio says slowly. 112 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadJulen Azkue falls out with a teammate over standards
120 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ternana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ternana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
127 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ternana lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ternana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Henrique Salomoni will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ternana the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Federico Romeo 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.
2 appearances across 8 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Position 3, 61 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Federico Romeo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 29 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ternana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Papini is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Ternana told Federico Papini something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Two goals and a mark of 8.34 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Adhiel Carrillo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ternana the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
20 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.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enrico Brignola is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It finished 2‑1, and it was Federico Romeo’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ternana.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
Marco Garetto was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.77. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Federico Romeo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
20 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
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.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Campobasso defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alexis Ferrante provided it, and the 8.36 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ternana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enrico Brignola 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alexis Ferrante. 2‑1 against Carpi, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Davide Tomba is 20, and Ternana have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ternana is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Federico Romeo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Ternana pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“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 Ternana know it.
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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Ternana can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Position 3, 50 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
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.
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.
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.
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 8 of the 29 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ternana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enrico Brignola 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.
Cristiano Furno was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ternana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Mario García was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ternana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enrico Brignola 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.
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.
“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 Ternana, and it is not being withdrawn.
Federico Romeo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Pianese defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 29 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ternana is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Papini is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ternana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Federico Romeo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Ternana know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Francesco D'Alterio signs something — a contract at Ternana or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
90 minutes played. Stefano Pettinari found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Arezzo went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Stefano Pettinari provided it, and the 8.23 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enrico Brignola is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Stefano Pettinari has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Livorno the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Ternana will enjoy reviewing.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Stefano Pettinari provided it, and the 7.98 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Ternana have had the benefit of it.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Henrique Salomoni has agreed terms with Trapani for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Cristiano Furno was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Ternana are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ternana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Mario García was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Stefano Pettinari. 2‑0 against Torres, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ternana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ternana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Vis Pesaro left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Ternana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enrico Brignola 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.
9 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.