It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fehervar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Dávid Zimonyi again, and this time the name on the line is Korona. Fehervar are listening politely and promising nothing.
In brief
SquadRaúl Torres falls out with a teammate over standards
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Ferencvaros, and it is not being withdrawn.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Ferencvaros have paid $2.8M for Csaba Bukta, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
He is going to Persepolis, the club has $20.6M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fehervar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Fehervar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mariano Gómez 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 phone has started ringing about Bence Babos again, and this time the name on the line is Diosgyor. Fehervar are listening politely and promising nothing.
Nobody at Fehervar 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.
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 Fehervar have had the benefit of it.
The name of Csaba Bukta has come up in conversations Fehervar were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fehervar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Fehervar training over how hard people work
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.
“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 Fehervar know 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 Fehervar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Fehervar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mariano Gómez 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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Diosgyor? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Bekescsaba kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Fehervar will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Mariano Gómez 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 Nov 2027
Words at Fehervar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Csaba Spandler is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A 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 Fehervar will not try tonight.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Marcos Ortiz.
Nobody at Fehervar 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.
Vasas will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Fehervar were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings15 Nov 2027
Samy Merheg, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 9.76
A mark of 9.76 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.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fehervar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Raúl Torres 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 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Samy Merheg 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.
Position 3, 29 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.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Samy Merheg, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.09
A mark of 8.09 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 Fehervar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
39 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Fehervar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mariano Gómez 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.
Paksi made Fehervar work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Daniel Arzani was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. 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.
Samy Merheg, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.36
A mark of 8.36 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Fehervar they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A season average of 7.50 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Fehervar know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fehervar 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 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Samy Merheg did not need any: 9.24, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Mariano Gómez 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 goals in one match, Csaba Bukta on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Fehervar and Haladas.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Fehervar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raúl Torres 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 8.25 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Daniel Arzani at his very best
A brace, and Samy Merheg takes the afternoon — 9.08
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Samy Merheg provided it, and the 9.08 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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; Fehervar are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Samy Merheg 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Fehervar and MTK Budapest, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Mariano Gómez 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 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Samy Merheg 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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Mariano Gómez wants continental football; whether Fehervar can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Mariano Gómez 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.
“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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Fehervar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Csaba Spandler 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.
“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; Fehervar are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
19 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.01 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fehervar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Fehervar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mariano Gómez 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.
Three points for Fehervar, 3‑1 the final word against Puskas Akademia in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Daniel Arzani was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.24. 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.
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.
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Fehervar deserved better, and so did he.
18 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Position 2, 16 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.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Samy Merheg did not need any: 9.56, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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 Fehervar, and it is not being withdrawn.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Mariano Gómez 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Fehervar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Raúl Torres 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
Player ratingsCsaba Bukta was on a different afternoon to everybody else
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Fehervar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Samy Merheg did not need any: 7.80, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Mariano Gómez wants continental football; whether Fehervar can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not 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 Fehervar know 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 Fehervar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Fehervar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mariano Gómez 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.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Dániel Németh obliged against Diosgyor. 2‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Fehervar.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Adama Niane was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Raúl Torres 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Marked 8.38 — 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.