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.
Squad8 Sep 2031
Kevin Horváth 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.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lorenxho Murra and Tiszakécske agree another 2 years.
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.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Tiszakécske scored in the 93th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings1 Sep 2031
Mateo Petkov, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.20
A mark of 8.20 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Boardroom1 Sep 2031
Tiszakécske close the window on a squad of their own making
20 in and 14 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad1 Sep 2031
Kevin Horváth 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.
Tiszakécske 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Diosgyor waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Tiszakécske is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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 7.63 for the rest of it.
Tiszakécske 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.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Words at Tiszakécske training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roland Mikló 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 23 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ágoston Kiss, and the manager let it.
Player ratings11 Aug 2031
Uroš Gajić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.20. 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.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tiszakécske lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Ádám Somogyi 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.
Squad14 Apr 2031
Words at Tiszakécske training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Horváth 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kevin Horváth signs something — a contract at Tiszakécske or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abdoul Bode trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tiszakécske lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Squad7 Apr 2031
Kevin Horváth 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.
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tiszakécske lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Uroš Gajić 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 Ádám Somogyi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
BoardroomWages swallow 140% of the Tiszakécske income
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tiszakécske lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tiszakécske this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Horváth was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Tiszakécske know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The words a physio says slowly. 46 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.
Ádám Somogyi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad17 Mar 2031
Kevin Horváth 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kevin Horváth signs something — a contract at Tiszakécske or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Tiszakécske has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Miron Mucsányi has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
Uroš Gajić 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 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 Kevin Horváth was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
He is 23 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.
No fees may be paid for anybody, whatever the squad needs. Every rumour about this club until it lifts is a rumour about a deal that cannot be done.
Player ratings3 Mar 2031
Uroš Gajić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. 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 words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Debrecen have kept their man, and Tiszakécske go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ádám Somogyi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“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 Tiszakécske know it.
In brief
The terracesThe spotlight tightens on Ágoston Kiss
Roland Mikló damages knee ligaments — 135 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 135 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marlon provided it, and the 8.07 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tiszakécske this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Oct 2030
Kevin Horváth 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 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Péter Molnár 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.
Squad28 Oct 2030
9 new faces, and Tiszakécske 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.
38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tiszakécske lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Horváth was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Tiszakécske were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
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.
97 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. MTK Budapest lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Mihály Kata and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Mar 2030
Zalán Kerezsi 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.
12 shut-outs in 28 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Gábor Megyeri has been having a lot of them.
“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; MTK Budapest are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Nobody at MTK Budapest 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mihály Kata signs something — a contract at MTK Budapest or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.