Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bence Kocsis will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around BVSC-Zugló the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bohdan Tryfanenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Gabor Lisztes 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Krisztian Szalai 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. Norbert Sallai is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Interim Coach has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
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.
Márton Radics and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bohdan Tryfanenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom7 Mar 2033
164% of the income goes out in wages at BVSC-Zugló
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tamás Galántai provided it, and the 8.05 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Vasas scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout28 Feb 2033
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
Zoltán Vasvári and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The 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 are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Antonin Levassort trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bence Gergényi signs something — a contract at BVSC-Zugló or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Bence Kocsis’s negotiating for him
Zoltán Vasvári 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 Feb 2033
Words at BVSC-Zugló training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bohdan Tryfanenko 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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $20.3M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at BVSC-Zugló can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Boardroom7 Feb 2033
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at BVSC-Zugló until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
3 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BVSC-Zugló this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
BVSC-Zugló asked and Puskas Akademia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad7 Feb 2033
Words at BVSC-Zugló training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bohdan Tryfanenko 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 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. BVSC-Zugló have done the hard part with Debrecen, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. MTK Budapest have kept their man, and BVSC-Zugló go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad31 Jan 2033
Words at BVSC-Zugló training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bohdan Tryfanenko 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.
8.36. 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at BVSC-Zugló pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“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 BVSC-Zugló, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with Ferencvaros, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two 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 BVSC-Zugló this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kecskeméti TE have kept their man, and BVSC-Zugló go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Jan 2033
Words at BVSC-Zugló training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bohdan Tryfanenko 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.
Everything was agreed with Soroksár and then the doctor spoke. BVSC-Zugló have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
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 team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Boardroom17 Jan 2033
Nobody arrives at BVSC-Zugló until somebody leaves
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with BVSC-Zugló this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
“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 BVSC-Zugló, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BVSC-Zugló 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.78 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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. BVSC-Zugló will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Zoltán Vasvári. 2‑1 against Budafoki MTE, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
9 combined actions and 6.84. 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at BVSC-Zugló is running low.
Squad27 Dec 2032
At 20, Felipe López is already the best thing here
An average of 7.01 in a first team he is several years too young for. BVSC-Zugló have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Zoltán Vasvári 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad27 Dec 2032
Words at BVSC-Zugló training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bohdan Tryfanenko 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ákos Onódi, and the manager let it.
The dugout27 Dec 2032
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. Csákvár will replay every second of the added time for a week.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Felipe López did not need any: 7.63, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Zoltán Vasvári 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.
Squad20 Dec 2032
Words at BVSC-Zugló training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bohdan Tryfanenko 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.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BVSC-Zugló this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Dec 2032
Words at BVSC-Zugló training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bohdan Tryfanenko 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 club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 6.70, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at BVSC-Zugló can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Márton Radics 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.
Squad6 Dec 2032
Words at BVSC-Zugló training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bohdan Tryfanenko 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 8.15 — 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at BVSC-Zugló is running low.
A season average of 7.05 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. BVSC-Zugló know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bence Gergényi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Half the programme played, position 7, 23 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Diego Cámara
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” BVSC-Zugló have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Zoltán Vasvári and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Nov 2032
Words at BVSC-Zugló training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bohdan Tryfanenko 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 figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Squad15 Nov 2032
14 new faces, and BVSC-Zugló are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at BVSC-Zugló has been clear about where Péter Kristóf stands, which is more than many ever get.
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. BVSC-Zugló lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BVSC-Zugló 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 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vince Nyíri, and the manager let it.
Squad8 Nov 2032
Felipe López is the division's best young player this month
At 20 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. BVSC-Zugló will try very hard not to make too much of it.
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. BVSC-Zugló lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Two goals and a mark of 8.98 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at BVSC-Zugló is running low.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” BVSC-Zugló have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.10, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Zoltán Vasvári 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 Nov 2032
Words at BVSC-Zugló training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bence Gergényi 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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.
Zoltán Vasvári 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 Bohdan Tryfanenko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout25 Oct 2032
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Fabian Blejwas has his answer from BVSC-Zugló; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
3 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.
Márton Radics 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 Oct 2032
Words at BVSC-Zugló training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bence Gergényi 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 figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“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; BVSC-Zugló are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. BVSC-Zugló lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Felipe López did not need any: 8.88, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
A season average of 7.01 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. BVSC-Zugló know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
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.
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. Felipe López 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 words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
Zoltán Vasvári and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The 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 8.09. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at BVSC-Zugló.
The dugout27 Sep 2032
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Interim Coach kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 33 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bence Gergényi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Boardroom20 Sep 2032
121% of the income goes out in wages at BVSC-Zugló
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.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad20 Sep 2032
10 new faces, and BVSC-Zugló are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
40 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. BVSC-Zugló lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Anthony Gonzalez has, at BVSC-Zugló, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BVSC-Zugló this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The goal that put Kozármisleny ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when BVSC-Zugló equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
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.
61 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. BVSC-Zugló lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings23 Aug 2032
Felipe López, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.87
A mark of 7.87 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.
The deal with Nyíregyháza is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Márton Radics 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 approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad23 Aug 2032
Words at BVSC-Zugló training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antonin Levassort 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.
68 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. BVSC-Zugló lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around BVSC-Zugló people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what BVSC-Zugló can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around BVSC-Zugló they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Márton Radics 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.
Squad16 Aug 2032
Words at BVSC-Zugló training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bence Gergényi 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.
75 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. BVSC-Zugló lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what BVSC-Zugló can pretend not to have heard.
The phone has started ringing about Leon Misja again, and this time the name on the line is Nyíregyháza. BVSC-Zugló are listening politely and promising nothing.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bohdan Tryfanenko and BVSC-Zugló agree another 4 years.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about BVSC-Zugló and Puskas Akademia in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 14 actions, 6.70, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
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.
82 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. BVSC-Zugló 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.” BVSC-Zugló have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Oliver Kubka will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around BVSC-Zugló the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Bohdan Tryfanenko and BVSC-Zugló agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about 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 BVSC-Zugló this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 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.
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.
Squad2 Aug 2032
Marcell Berki 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.
BVSC-Zugló asked and ETO Győr said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The mood at BVSC-Zugló has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
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.
Position 9 on 36 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what BVSC-Zugló 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 BVSC-Zugló this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Arsen Ivantsiv 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.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Bekescsaba were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Kozármisleny kept coming because nothing stopped them, and BVSC-Zugló will be asked about the last half hour all week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what BVSC-Zugló can pretend not to have heard.
Márton Radics 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 Bence Gergényi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Oliver Kubka has his answer from BVSC-Zugló; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what BVSC-Zugló can pretend not to have heard.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Felipe López did not need any: 7.84, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” BVSC-Zugló have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around BVSC-Zugló they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Marked 7.95. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Márton Radics 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what BVSC-Zugló 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 BVSC-Zugló this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom15 Dec 2031
169% of the income goes out in wages at BVSC-Zugló
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.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad15 Dec 2031
Words at BVSC-Zugló training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ádám Nagy 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; BVSC-Zugló are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“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 BVSC-Zugló, and it is not being withdrawn.
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at BVSC-Zugló is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Márton Radics 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.
Half the programme played, position 11, 16 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leon Misja was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“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 BVSC-Zugló, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around BVSC-Zugló 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 BVSC-Zugló this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kornél Csernik was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A mark of 7.53, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout20 Oct 2031
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Interim Coach kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at BVSC-Zugló can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what BVSC-Zugló can pretend not to have heard.
Successful dribbles: 28. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” BVSC-Zugló have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Márton Radics 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.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
In brief
SquadKornél Csernik falls out with a teammate over standards
“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 BVSC-Zugló, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at BVSC-Zugló is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Luka Rodek has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Márton Radics and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcell Berki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
BVSC-Zugló asked and Nyíregyháza said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at BVSC-Zugló, another week without a signature from Marcell Berki.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. David Carballo provided it, and the 7.69 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Danilo Golović will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around BVSC-Zugló the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Bohdan Tryfanenko 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.
BVSC-Zugló asked and ETO Győr said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
In brief
SquadWords at BVSC-Zugló training over how hard people work
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. BVSC-Zugló lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what BVSC-Zugló can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at BVSC-Zugló is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The deal with Kecskeméti TE is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcell Berki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
89 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. BVSC-Zugló lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. BVSC-Zugló have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mário Mrva will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around BVSC-Zugló the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Taiyo Ushiyama is living that version at BVSC-Zugló, and it tends to show in the first month.
Kazincbarcika paid $110.0K and BVSC-Zugló took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad9 Jun 2031
Words at BVSC-Zugló training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. György Balázs Varga 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.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.