Marked for Viktor Nikolic
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom3 Dec 2040
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.
Match3 Dec 2040
Every point is an argument now for Haladas
Position 10 and 16 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Boardroom3 Dec 2040
Crisis meeting at Haladas
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Squad3 Dec 2040
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Haladas may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad3 Dec 2040
A one-man rearguard from Laszlo Orban
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market3 Dec 2040
Matías Bozo hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Haladas can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings3 Dec 2040
Age has not caught Yulian Gilov yet — 7.97
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.97 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad3 Dec 2040
Norbert Fiola 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.
Squad3 Dec 2040
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Viktor Nikolic commits to Haladas for another 2 years.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings12 Nov 2040
Norbert Fiola, 39, rolls back the years — 8.50
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.50 at 39, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market12 Nov 2040
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Haladas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad12 Nov 2040
Viktor Nikolic 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.
Match10 Nov 2040
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Yulian Gilov. 3‑2 against Puskas Akademia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad12 Nov 2040
Roman Savchenko 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.
Squad12 Nov 2040
The manager makes an example of Laszlo Orban
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad12 Nov 2040
The medical room confirms 45 days on the sidelines for Istvan Gulacsi, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Match10 Nov 2040
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Puskas Akademia tried to reorganise, Haladas did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Player ratings12 Nov 2040
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.01, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match20 Oct 2040
No end in sight to Haladas's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Haladas has to find a result from somewhere.
Match20 Oct 2040
No clean sheets in sight for Haladas
11 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Match20 Oct 2040
Haladas throw away a 3-goal lead
3 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Fehervar the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Haladas will enjoy reviewing.
Market22 Oct 2040
“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 Haladas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings22 Oct 2040
Viktor Nikolic, 37, rolls back the years — 8.08
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.08 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad22 Oct 2040
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haladas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Oct 2040
Words at Haladas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Savchenko 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.
Player ratings22 Oct 2040
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.12, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad22 Oct 2040
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match6 Oct 2040
No end in sight to Haladas's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Haladas has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom8 Oct 2040
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.
Match8 Oct 2040
Haladas sink to position 11
7 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match6 Oct 2040
Haladas throw away a 3-goal lead
3 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Paksi the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Haladas will enjoy reviewing.
Boardroom8 Oct 2040
Crisis meeting at Haladas
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Match6 Oct 2040
No clean sheets in sight for Haladas
9 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Player ratings8 Oct 2040
Viktor Nikolic, 37, rolls back the years — 7.88
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.88 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad8 Oct 2040
Norbert Fiola 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 Oct 2040
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Hernán Taborda and Haladas agree another 2 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match10 Sep 2040
Every point is an argument now for Haladas
Position 10 and 5 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market10 Sep 2040
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad10 Sep 2040
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match8 Sep 2040
5 matches without a win for Haladas
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Haladas are no longer polite ones.
Squad10 Sep 2040
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haladas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match8 Sep 2040
Haladas are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Market10 Sep 2040
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Haladas have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad10 Sep 2040
Words at Haladas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Savchenko 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.
Squad10 Sep 2040
“The easiest signature of my career.” Marton Orban and Haladas agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Sep 2040
1‑4 to Diosgyor, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Boardroom3 Sep 2040
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.
Match29 Aug 2040
The small margins put Haladas out
Out, 1‑7 to Debrecen, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Boardroom3 Sep 2040
The Haladas board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
The terraces3 Sep 2040
Haladas are taken apart by Debrecen — and the town wants answers
It finished 1-7. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Player ratings3 Sep 2040
Up for the corner, and Viktor Nikolic delivers — 7.37
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Viktor Nikolic scored, was marked 7.37, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Match1 Sep 2040
No end in sight to Haladas's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Haladas has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad3 Sep 2040
“The easiest signature of my career.” Matías Gallardo and Haladas agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match29 Aug 2040
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Haladas and Debrecen in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Jun 2040
A knee injury of the worst kind for Roland Szalai
48 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Haladas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom18 Jun 2040
The scrutiny sharpens at Haladas
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Haladas is running low.
Squad18 Jun 2040
Viktor Nikolic 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 May 2040
A knee injury of the worst kind for Arseny Petrov
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Haladas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad28 May 2040
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haladas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 May 2040
Words at Haladas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Savchenko 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Apr 2040
A knee injury of the worst kind for Arseny Petrov
89 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Haladas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad16 Apr 2040
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haladas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Apr 2040
Words at Haladas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Savchenko 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Mar 2040
A knee injury of the worst kind for Arseny Petrov
124 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Haladas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad12 Mar 2040
A fracture rules Viktor Gulacsi out for 38 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Haladas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market12 Mar 2040
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Haladas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
In brief
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Squad
Tempers go at Haladas
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Squad
Words at Haladas training over how hard people work
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Feb 2040
A knee injury of the worst kind for Arseny Petrov
138 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Haladas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom27 Feb 2040
Pressure builds in the Haladas boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad27 Feb 2040
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Feb 2040
A fracture rules Viktor Nikolic out for 19 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Haladas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom6 Feb 2040
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.
Boardroom6 Feb 2040
Crisis meeting at Haladas
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Squad6 Feb 2040
“The easiest signature of my career.” Matías Gallardo and Haladas agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Feb 2040
Norbert Fiola 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.
Market6 Feb 2040
The name of Gabriel Oluwabusola has come up in conversations Haladas were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad6 Feb 2040
Words at Haladas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Savchenko 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.
Boardroom6 Feb 2040
$401.4K taken back off the Haladas table
What was available in the summer has quietly gone. Upstairs nobody will call it a change of ambition; downstairs nobody will call it anything else.
Market6 Feb 2040
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Jan 2040
A fracture rules Viktor Nikolic out for 26 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Haladas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom30 Jan 2040
Pressure builds in the Haladas boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad30 Jan 2040
Lukas Kostner: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Haladas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Jan 2040
A fracture rules Viktor Nikolic out for 33 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Haladas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market23 Jan 2040
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Haladas can pretend not to have heard.
Market23 Jan 2040
The bid was some way short and Haladas did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad23 Jan 2040
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad23 Jan 2040
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haladas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Jan 2040
Words at Haladas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Savchenko 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Jan 2040
A fracture rules Viktor Nikolic out for 40 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Haladas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad16 Jan 2040
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haladas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Jan 2040
Roman Savchenko 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.
Market16 Jan 2040
Add another name to the list: Diosgyor have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Gabriele Landulfo. The answer from Haladas has not changed — yet.
Market16 Jan 2040
Everyone has stopped pretending: Vasas will make the call about Gabriel Oluwabusola this week. Haladas have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad16 Jan 2040
Norbert Fiola has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Haladas 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Jan 2040
A fracture rules Viktor Nikolic out for 47 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Haladas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad9 Jan 2040
A knee injury of the worst kind for Istvan Nikolic
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Haladas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market9 Jan 2040
The name of Hernán Taborda has come up in conversations Haladas were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad9 Jan 2040
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haladas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Jan 2040
Yulian Gilov 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.
Market9 Jan 2040
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Peter Szoboszlai leaves Haladas the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Jan 2040
A fracture rules Viktor Nikolic out for 54 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Haladas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad2 Jan 2040
A knee injury of the worst kind for Istvan Nikolic
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Haladas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom2 Jan 2040
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Haladas can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom2 Jan 2040
The Haladas board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Boardroom2 Jan 2040
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Haladas
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad2 Jan 2040
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haladas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market2 Jan 2040
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Haladas have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad2 Jan 2040
Roman Savchenko 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.
Market2 Jan 2040
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Bendeguz Andoči Tar has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Haladas.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Dec 2039
A fracture rules Viktor Nikolic out for 61 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Haladas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad26 Dec 2039
A knee injury of the worst kind for Istvan Nikolic
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Haladas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings26 Dec 2039
Norbert Fiola, 38, rolls back the years — 7.84
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.84 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match24 Dec 2039
4 matches without a win for Haladas
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Haladas are no longer polite ones.
Squad26 Dec 2039
Norbert Fiola 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.
Squad26 Dec 2039
Words at Haladas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Savchenko 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Dec 2039
A fracture rules Viktor Nikolic out for 68 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Haladas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad19 Dec 2039
A knee injury of the worst kind for Istvan Nikolic
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Haladas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market19 Dec 2039
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Haladas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Dec 2039
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haladas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Dec 2039
Santiago Mera scored, and precious little else went right: 3‑4 to Debrecen, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Match17 Dec 2039
Santiago Mera among the goals in a wild afternoon
7 goals in one match, Santiago Mera on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Haladas and Debrecen.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Dec 2039
A knee injury of the worst kind for Roman Savchenko
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Haladas lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad12 Dec 2039
A fracture rules Viktor Nikolic out for 75 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Haladas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings12 Dec 2039
Janos Bese runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market12 Dec 2039
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gabriel Oluwabusola will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Haladas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad12 Dec 2039
Norbert Fiola 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.
Squad12 Dec 2039
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Dec 2039
Roman Savchenko damages knee ligaments — 21 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Squad5 Dec 2039
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 82 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom5 Dec 2039
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.
Boardroom5 Dec 2039
Crisis meeting at Haladas
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Player ratings5 Dec 2039
Up for the corner, and Valerio Battisti delivers — 7.95
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Valerio Battisti scored, was marked 7.95, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad5 Dec 2039
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Roman Savchenko commits to Haladas for another 2 years.
Squad5 Dec 2039
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haladas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings5 Dec 2039
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Nov 2039
Roman Savchenko damages knee ligaments — 28 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
Squad28 Nov 2039
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 89 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad28 Nov 2039
A one-man rearguard from Laszlo Orban
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings28 Nov 2039
Age has not caught Norbert Fiola yet — 8.44
At 38 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.44 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad28 Nov 2039
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haladas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Nov 2039
Three points for Haladas, 2‑1 the final word against Ujpest in a contest settled by the finer margins.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Nov 2039
Roman Savchenko damages knee ligaments — 35 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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.
Squad21 Nov 2039
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 96 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings21 Nov 2039
Norbert Fiola, 38, rolls back the years — 7.86
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.86 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market21 Nov 2039
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Haladas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad21 Nov 2039
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haladas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Nov 2039
Norbert Fiola scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Diosgyor, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Nov 2039
Viktor Nikolic breaks a bone — 103 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 103 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market14 Nov 2039
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gabriel Oluwabusola will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Haladas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad14 Nov 2039
Balazs Orban: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Haladas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad14 Nov 2039
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haladas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Nov 2039
Roman Savchenko 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.
Match12 Nov 2039
Puskas Akademia made Haladas work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Nov 2039
Viktor Nikolic breaks a bone — 110 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 110 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match5 Nov 2039
Chastening afternoon for Haladas
A 1‑8 beating by Ferencvaros was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Boardroom7 Nov 2039
Interim Coach has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Haladas can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom7 Nov 2039
Crisis meeting at Haladas
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Squad7 Nov 2039
Norbert Fiola 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.
Squad7 Nov 2039
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 2 saves does not settle it either way.
Squad7 Nov 2039
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Laszlo Orban and Haladas agree another 2 years.
Match5 Nov 2039
Yulian Gilov among the goals in a wild afternoon
9 goals in one match, Yulian Gilov on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Haladas and Ferencvaros.
Boardroom7 Nov 2039
Doors closed at Haladas
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match15 Oct 2039
2‑5 to Vasas, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Player ratings17 Oct 2039
Norbert Fiola, 38, rolls back the years — 8.23
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.23 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market17 Oct 2039
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Haladas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad17 Oct 2039
Viktor Nikolic 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.
Match15 Oct 2039
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Haladas and Vasas in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings17 Oct 2039
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 Oct 2039
Roman Savchenko 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.
Squad17 Oct 2039
The manager makes an example of Tommaso Duca
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Boardroom17 Oct 2039
Doors closed at Haladas
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings19 Sep 2039
Viktor Nikolic, 36, rolls back the years — 8.00
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.00 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market19 Sep 2039
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Haladas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Sep 2039
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haladas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Sep 2039
Roman Savchenko 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.
Player ratings19 Sep 2039
The game went through Norbert Fiola — 6.95
Marked 6.95 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Player ratings19 Sep 2039
Yulian Gilov was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.05. 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.
Match17 Sep 2039
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad19 Sep 2039
Norbert Fiola has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Haladas 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.
The terraces19 Sep 2039
Everybody has an opinion about Laszlo Orban
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings15 Aug 2039
Two goals and a mark of 8.57 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market15 Aug 2039
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings15 Aug 2039
Anthony da Costa, 33, rolls back the years — 7.80
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.80 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad15 Aug 2039
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haladas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match13 Aug 2039
A 4‑3 win over Honved, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Match13 Aug 2039
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Haladas and Honved, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Market15 Aug 2039
Add another name to the list: Honved have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Gabriel Oluwabusola. The answer from Haladas has not changed — yet.
Squad15 Aug 2039
Words at Haladas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Savchenko 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.
Squad15 Aug 2039
15 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces23 May 2039
The mood at Haladas 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.
Squad23 May 2039
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haladas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 May 2039
Words at Haladas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roman Savchenko 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom21 Mar 2039
Pressure builds in the Haladas boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market21 Mar 2039
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gabriel Oluwabusola will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Haladas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 Mar 2039
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haladas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Feb 2039
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Haladas may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad14 Feb 2039
Viktor Nikolic 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.
Market14 Feb 2039
The name of Gabriel Oluwabusola has come up in conversations Haladas were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces31 Jan 2039
Anger at Haladas spills outside the ground
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.
Squad31 Jan 2039
Hernán Taborda damages knee ligaments — 27 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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.
Market31 Jan 2039
Honved come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Haladas did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad31 Jan 2039
Viktor Nikolic 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.
Squad31 Jan 2039
Roman Savchenko 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.
Squad31 Jan 2039
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Diogo Cordeiro commits to Haladas for another 2 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Jan 2039
Hernán Taborda damages knee ligaments — 41 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
Squad17 Jan 2039
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Haladas may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad17 Jan 2039
33 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.