Erik Czérna and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Words at Szentlőrinc training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Furtula 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ujpest have kept their man, and Szentlőrinc go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
MTK Budapest have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Szentlőrinc lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The offer from Fehervar for Levente Márta was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Add another name to the list: ETO Győr have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Martin Auerbach. The answer from Szentlőrinc has not changed — yet.
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 gap in the accounts was filled from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be grateful and to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings arrive together.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. MTK Budapest have kept their man, and Szentlőrinc go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
BoardroomThe borrowing at Szentlőrinc reaches $23.4M
Boardroom104% of the income goes out in wages at Szentlőrinc
Erik Czérna 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 May 2029
Words at Szentlőrinc training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nikola Furtula 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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nikola Furtula signs something — a contract at Szentlőrinc or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Szentlőrinc will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Nikola Furtula and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vane Jovanov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $23.1M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
Boardroom9 Apr 2029
107% of the income goes out in wages at Szentlőrinc
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Szentlőrinc, and both men came out saying it was fine.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Szentlőrinc 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 Szentlőrinc, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Szentlőrinc is running low.
Nikola Furtula 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 shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Vane Jovanov 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Tymofii Slobodianiuk has come out of that comparison in the side, and Szentlőrinc have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Szentlőrinc, and both men came out saying it was fine.
52 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Szentlőrinc lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
He is going to Ujpest, the club has $280.0K 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Szentlőrinc this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ujpest pay $280.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Vane Jovanov 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.
“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 Szentlőrinc know it.
In brief
BoardroomWages eat 91% of everything Szentlőrinc earn
101 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Szentlőrinc lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Nikola Furtula and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vane Jovanov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
29 appearances and 6 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
The manager has a list and the board has a condition attached to it. That is not a crisis — half of football works this way — but it decides which of the two of them gets his way in August.
The words a physio says slowly. 124 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 board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
“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 Szentlőrinc, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nikola Furtula 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 May 2028
Vane Jovanov 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.
“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; Szentlőrinc are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Vane Jovanov is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
In brief
The dugoutErik Czérna asks for a word with the manager
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 38 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
“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 Szentlőrinc, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nikola Furtula 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vane Jovanov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Szentlőrinc are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Tamas Sallai after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ebere Eugene trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutIstván Harsányi is still being punished for one mistake
Nikola Furtula 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Szentlőrinc training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nenad Nikić 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Szentlőrinc, and 2 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“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 Szentlőrinc know it.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 15 arrived, 15 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Nikola Furtula 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 accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Szentlőrinc now.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Szentlőrinc training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bojan Sanković 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 watch every Szentlőrinc game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at BVSC-Zugló runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
102% of the income goes out in wages at Szentlőrinc
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Szentlőrinc can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Ebere Eugene's mistake
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Márk Lakatos