Haladas interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Balazs Szoboszlai keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
“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 The request is on a desk at Haladas, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal that would have taken János Takács to Honved has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Haladas with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Norbert Kleinheisler and Haladas agree another 2 years.
Balazs Botka 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 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.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Santiago Mejía has agreed terms with Puskas Akademia for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
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.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Words at Haladas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Balazs Botka 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Haladas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
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.
Georgy Nazarov 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.
13 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
“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.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Balazs Szoboszlai recited it perfectly.
“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.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Words at Haladas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Balazs Botka 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 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.
6 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 Haladas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Words at Haladas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Olly Tonkin 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 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.
“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.
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.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Words at Haladas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Balazs Botka 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.
Peter Bese 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.
Dániel Nagy 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.
Squad19 Nov 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Balazs Botka's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Marked 4.49. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
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.
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.
“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.
1 for Peter Bese, marked 7.65, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Words at Haladas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Peter Bese 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 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.
Marked 5.44. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
Position 12 and 7 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.
The terraces8 Oct 2029
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 8 of the 31 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
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 7.87 for the rest of it.
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.
Georgy Nazarov 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.
Viktor Lisztes scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Paksi, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Peter Bese 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.
9 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 Haladas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Words at Haladas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Balazs Botka 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 Roland Bese signs something — a contract at Haladas or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Viktor Lisztes provided it, and the 8.22 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
“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.
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.
Georgy Nazarov 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.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Peter Bese 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 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Viktor Lisztes has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
It 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.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Words at Haladas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Peter Bese 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 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Haladas has been clear about where Tamas Lisztes stands, which is more than many ever get.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Words at Haladas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Balazs Botka 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.
Roland Bese 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.
20 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.
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.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Haladas that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
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.
7.61, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Georgy Nazarov 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Balazs Botka 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Marked 5.10. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
The words a physio says slowly. 44 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dominik Szoboszlai will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Haladas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Haladas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Peter Bese 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.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 65 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.
“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.
Zsolt Dibusz 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.
Honved made Haladas work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Peter Bese falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
73 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.
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 7.51 for the rest of it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dominik Szoboszlai will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Haladas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Words at Haladas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Peter Bese 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.
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.
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 Oct 2028
Words at Haladas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Peter Bese is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Paksi? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 45 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
0‑4 to Debrecen, 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.
Zsolt Dibusz 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.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Peter Bese 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.
Shots: 6. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Marked 7.87. 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.
Georgy Nazarov 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.
Ádám Zubor scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to MTK Budapest, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Peter Bese 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.
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.
Zsolt Dibusz 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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Peter Bese 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.
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 ratings28 Aug 2028
A brace, and Zsolt Dibusz takes the afternoon — 7.90
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Zsolt Dibusz provided it, and the 7.90 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Viktor Lisztes, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.69
A mark of 7.69 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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.
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.
Zsolt Dibusz was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Haladas and Puskas Akademia, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
“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; Haladas are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Peter Bese 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
The terraces26 Jun 2028
Haladas spend $390.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $390.0K for Dário, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
In brief
SquadWords at Haladas training over how hard people work
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.
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.
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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Viktor Lisztes commits to Haladas for another 4 years.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Peter Bese 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.
In brief
SquadA place in the month's best eleven for Viktor Lisztes