93 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kozármisleny lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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.
Squad8 Nov 2032
Words at Kozármisleny training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vladimir Ilić 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.
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.
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.
Gergő Kovács 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.
Budafoki MTE left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout8 Nov 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.
149 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kozármisleny 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 Kozármisleny 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 Kozármisleny this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Sep 2032
Vladimir Ilić 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Stefan Šavija. 2‑1 against BVSC-Zugló, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
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.
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Kozármisleny can tell you which week it ends in.
Danilo Đulčić 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
Vladimir Ilić 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.
Danilo Đulčić 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Lorenzo Santarelli is living that version at Kozármisleny, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bence Kovács was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Past the limit the bank set, which is the line between a club being financed and a club being in trouble. $18.5M is now the number every conversation about this club will start with.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Kozármisleny can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Fredrik Henriksen is 20, and Kozármisleny have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kozármisleny 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 Kozármisleny 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 Balázs Óvári was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Balázs Óvári trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Kozármisleny told Tshepiso Mahlangu something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kozármisleny lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Kozármisleny, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 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.
Younes Yasser Abdel Rahman 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kolen Onder 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 Danilo Đulčić signs something — a contract at Kozármisleny or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Kozármisleny could ask drops and the wages Eugenio D'Ursi can ask rise.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kozármisleny 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 Kozármisleny 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 Kozármisleny 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 Balázs Óvári was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Kozármisleny, another week without a signature from Yousuf Ali Haji.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Balázs Óvári 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 Vladimir Ilić signs something — a contract at Kozármisleny or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kozármisleny lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Kozármisleny is running low.
Vladimir Ilić 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.
“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; Kozármisleny are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Sebastian Strappini has written the date down.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kozármisleny can pretend not to have heard.
Danilo Đulčić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Mar 2032
Balázs Óvári 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.
Boardroom22 Mar 2032
221% of the income goes out in wages at Kozármisleny
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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kozármisleny, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Danilo Đulčić signs something — a contract at Kozármisleny or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Nikola Furtula was at the centre of it, BVSC-Zugló were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kozármisleny 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 Kozármisleny this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It finished 3‑2, and it was Nikola Furtula’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Kozármisleny.
Squad29 Dec 2031
Words at Kozármisleny training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Balázs Óvári 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 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.
Nikola Furtula and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Apr 2031
Balázs Óvári 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.
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.
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.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kozármisleny know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Balázs Manner’s negotiating for him