The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Valletta have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Valletta they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Valletta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Gomes 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.
Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill 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.
A loan enquiry to Sliema Wanderers: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Valletta told Igor Feijão something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Nobody at Valletta 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Zurrieq waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Valletta is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valletta can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Valletta they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Valletta have done the hard part with Sliema Wanderers, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Alessandro Coppola 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hibernians have kept their man, and Valletta 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 Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Valletta has been clear about where Thaylor stands, which is more than many ever get.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valletta can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Valletta they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill 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.
“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; Valletta are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at Valletta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcos Ramos 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.
Nobody at Valletta 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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Valletta has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Roko Prša signs something — a contract at Valletta or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
MatchContinental football is in reach for Valletta
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Valletta they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Gomes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Valletta know it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valletta can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Valletta is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill 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.
“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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Valletta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcos Ramos 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.
Nobody at Valletta 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Valletta, and both men came out saying it was fine.
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Valletta could ask drops and the wages Conor Thomas can ask rise.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Thaylor on the training pitch
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Valletta they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Bruno Gomes 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.
Guilherme Escuro 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Shaft Brewer is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Valletta know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Ruan’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Valletta they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alessandro Coppola and Valletta agree another 4 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valletta 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 Marcos Ramos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Valletta 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Igor Feijão will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Valletta the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Bruno Gomes 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.
Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Igor Feijão trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Conor Thomas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Valletta the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 Valletta know it.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Marcos Ramos 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.
Nobody at Valletta 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Lungelo Kunene
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Valletta is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Roko Prša and Valletta agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Bruno Gomes 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valletta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Valletta know it.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Guilherme Escuro is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Valletta know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Igor Feijão will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Valletta 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 Valletta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Bruno Gomes 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.
Nobody at Valletta 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Paulo Júnior trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Valletta is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valletta 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 Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Emmanuel Mbende is on it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Neil Micallef has his answer from Valletta; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Valletta, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Roko Prša signs something — a contract at Valletta or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 5 on 32 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Zebbug Rangers waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Valletta is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Conor Thomas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Valletta the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bruno Gomes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Add another name to the list: Naxxar Lions have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Thiago Lenza. The answer from Valletta has not changed — yet.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Valletta can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Valletta scored in the 92th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Valletta have lost him in all but the paperwork.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.87 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Valletta close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 3 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valletta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Shaft Brewer. 2‑1 against Marsaxlokk, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 12 combined actions and a mark of 6.75, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Valletta people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Valletta is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Everything agreed with Wigan Athletic, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sava Radić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Pieta Hotspurs waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Valletta is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valletta can pretend not to have heard.
Valletta had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Rotherham United, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Shaft Brewer and Valletta agree another 3 years.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Valletta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Gomes 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Valletta people have started saying his name 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 Valletta, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Valletta have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Valletta training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bruno Gomes 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.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Valletta can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Zurrieq waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Valletta is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Valletta, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with Hamrun Spartans, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valletta this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Mtarfa have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jake Azzopardi. The answer from Valletta has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Dinamo Zagreb is saying, and nobody at Puskas Akademia is enjoying the guessing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ludogorets have kept their man, and Puskas Akademia 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 Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Puskas Akademia have made the call to Ludogorets. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“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 Puskas Akademia, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Liepaja for Kevin Mondovics was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The chase for Marko Kvasina ended with $400.0K changing hands and Nyíregyháza out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tamás Markek and Puskas Akademia agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Marked 7.95. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Puskas Akademia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Puskas Akademia heard it as anything else.
Puskas Akademia and Nyíregyháza have settled on $400.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Laros Duarte and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Artem Favorov 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 now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ludogorets have kept their man, and Puskas Akademia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Puskas Akademia, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Dániel Lukács’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Puskas Akademia needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Puskas Akademia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Puskas Akademia has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Puskas Akademia had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Ludogorets, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Zsolt 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Budafoki MTE will make the call about Laros Duarte this week. Puskas Akademia have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Makhachkala have kept their man, and Puskas Akademia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Puskas Akademia are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“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 Puskas Akademia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Puskas Akademia have gone to ETO Győr with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Máté Deczki was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $500.0K. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artem Favorov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
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.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Puskas Akademia asked and Vasas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The deal with Mezőkövesd is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Vojvodina keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Laros Duarte and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Puskas Akademia is running low.
Something was said to Laros Duarte and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Laros Duarte signs something — a contract at Puskas Akademia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Puskas Akademia would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Nobody at Puskas Akademia 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.
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.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Soroksár will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Soroksár this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Soroksár training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Balázs Lovrencsics is on it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Puskas Akademia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kevin Mondovics is on it.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Puskas Akademia will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Sharpest man there all week, by every account. It is the quietest line on this page and it usually runs the week before somebody’s run in the side begins.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Soroksár will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Soroksár training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Vranješ 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 Soroksár or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Soroksár, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Soroksár will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Soroksár can pretend not to have heard.
Georgy Arutyunyan and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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 Aleksandar Katanić has written the date down.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Soroksár 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 Soroksár this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Soroksár training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zsombor Kálnoki-Kis 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 Soroksár 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 Soroksár 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 Marko Vranješ was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Balázs Lovrencsics is on it.
The words a physio says slowly. 14 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artem Favorov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Puskas Akademia know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at Puskas Akademia says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Soroksár will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill 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 Apr 2027
Marko Vranješ 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.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Puskas Akademia 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 Puskas Akademia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Artem Favorov 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 money the manager was told he had is now money the manager used to have. $5.5M, gone from the table without a statement, and a dressing room that understands what it means.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mikael Soisalo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Soroksár will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Kevin Korozmán is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Soroksár will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Marko Vranješ 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Soroksár has been clear about where Ádám Holczer stands, which is more than many ever get.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Soroksár know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Soroksár. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
The dugoutÁdám Holczer knocks on the manager's door
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 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 Soroksár this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Position 13 on 30 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Soroksár will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Up for the corner, and Barnabás Bese delivers — 7.83
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Barnabás Bese scored, was marked 7.83, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 90. Szeged-Csanád GA had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
“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 Soroksár know it.
Something was said to Barnabás Bese and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Puskas Akademia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Puskas Akademia would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Zsolt Magyar is on it.
Martin Kern has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
In brief
The dugoutUrho Nissilä knocks on the manager’s door
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Soroksár will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Soroksár, and it is not being withdrawn.
Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Soroksár training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Vranješ is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 8.23 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Soroksár told Georgy Arutyunyan something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Balazs Sallai kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
The dugoutNo place for Tamás Takács on the big day
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Soroksár will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Marko Vranješ 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Márk Könczey, and the manager let it.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Balazs Sallai to a room that had heard them before.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Soroksár 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 Soroksár this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zsombor Kálnoki-Kis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Balazs Sallai could afford to be generous.
BVSC-Zugló will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Soroksár were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Soroksár will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ábel Krajcsovics provided it, and the 8.73 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill 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 Marko Vranješ was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 22 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mate Kleinheisler is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Laszlo Kleinheisler has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Tamas Lang has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The deal that would have taken Mikael Soisalo to ETO Győr has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Puskas Akademia with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Valladolid keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Artem Favorov 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 now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Unirea Slobozia have kept their man, and Puskas Akademia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Bence Tóth 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mikael Soisalo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Puskas Akademia would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Soroksár will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
1 for Georgy Arutyunyan, marked 7.83, 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.
Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Marko Vranješ 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 22 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. 83 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Soroksár close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 0 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.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Soroksár asked and Ufa said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Two sides from the bottom of the table, three points, and an afternoon that will be described afterwards as a relegation decider by whoever loses it.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Balazs Sallai to a room that had heard them before.
Position 15 and 17 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Soroksár will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Soroksár training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill 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.
Soroksár asked and MSK Zilina said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Erik Németh 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Soroksár will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
1 for Barnabás Bese, marked 7.88, 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.
Soroksár had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Debrecen, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Csákvár scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
0‑3 against Kecskeméti TE, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Soroksár will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
$270.0K on the table at Debrecen. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Georgy Arutyunyan is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.89 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Soroksár have had the benefit of it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Soroksár have done the hard part with Puskas Akademia, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Kristóf Herjeczki 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.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Position 16 and 13 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A brace, and Marko Vranješ takes the afternoon — 7.79
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marko Vranješ provided it, and the 7.79 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Soroksár this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
14 combined actions and 6.61. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Soroksár training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Vranješ is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Soroksár will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
8 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Soroksár have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Soroksár can tell you which week it ends in.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Balazs Sallai after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Soroksár will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
7 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Soroksár this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Soroksár know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Balazs Sallai after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Krisztián Köböl was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Erik Németh has moved up it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Soroksár will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Soroksár this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Luka Kljajić was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.31. 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.
It needed Luka Kljajić to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Szeged-Csanád GA, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
SquadWords at Soroksár training over how hard people work
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Soroksár lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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 Soroksár this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Soroksár training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Balazs Sallai after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Dániel Lukács and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Artem Favorov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Puskas Akademia know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
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.
4 goals in 13 games at Diosgyor — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Puskas Akademia updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
Marko Vranješ 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 Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Soroksár 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Tiszakécske in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Soroksár know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Soroksár, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Balázs Lovrencsics has written the date down.
The words a physio says slowly. 38 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Balazs Sallai to a room that had heard them before.
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.
In brief
SquadWords at Soroksár training over how hard people work
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Soroksár lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Erik Németh and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Soroksár have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
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 1‑2 Balazs Sallai left the room before anybody could ask which.
The words a physio says slowly. 53 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. Gergő Pálinkás provided it, and the 8.71 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill 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 Soroksár and BVSC-Zugló, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Marko Vranješ. 4‑2 against BVSC-Zugló, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Balazs Sallai, on a 4‑2 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Soroksár training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Krisztián Köböl 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.
62 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Soroksár lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kristóf Herjeczki. 3‑1 against Karcag, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Olivér Nagy 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.
12 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Laros Duarte 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Dániel Lukács’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Puskas Akademia needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Puskas Akademia would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Soroksár lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Kristóf Herjeczki 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Soroksár training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 38 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Soroksár is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Soroksár told Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The words a physio says slowly. 77 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Soroksár this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The words a physio says slowly. 93 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.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Krisztián Köböl scored, was marked 7.84, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The words a physio says slowly. 102 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gergő Pálinkás provided it, and the 8.63 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 Soroksár, and it is not being withdrawn.
$24.0K was the most the club would pay and Vasas were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Soroksár training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Vranješ 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 words a physio says slowly. 109 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 version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Luka Kljajić is living that version at Soroksár, and it tends to show in the first month.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 19 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $25.0K — a club that wants Bertalan Kapornai enough to be asked twice.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Soroksár this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Soroksár offered $54.0K; Honved said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Soroksár asked and Rapid Bucharest said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 Puskas Akademia, and it is not being withdrawn.
14 seasons and 301 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Michael Okeke did not need any: 8.01, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. OH Leuven have kept their man, and Puskas Akademia go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
1 for Laros Duarte, marked 7.67, 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.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Zsolt Nagy and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The name of Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill has come up in conversations Puskas Akademia were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Aleksandar Katanić has, at Soroksár, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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 7.91 for the rest of it.
Soroksár have gone to Vasas with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Kristóf Herjeczki 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
Soroksár have made the call to Puskas Akademia. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.