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.
Bálint Vécsei 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 had been thinking. Maksym Zaderaka 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.
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 Zoltán Pesti has written the date down.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Christos Kosidis trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Paksi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
József Windecker 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 Bálint Vécsei 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 Bamidele Yusuf is on it.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Paksi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Paksi 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 Paksi can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. János Hahn 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Fouad El Maach trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Paksi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Paksi can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Paksi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Bálint Vécsei 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.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Paksi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
József Windecker and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Bálint Vécsei 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.
Position 12 and 9 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 Paksi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
József Windecker 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 had been thinking. Bálint Vécsei 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 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Paksi 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 Paksi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Paksi 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 Paksi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paksi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bálint Vécsei 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 Paksi 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.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Paksi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 60 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Paksi can pretend not to have heard.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Paksi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Paksi 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 Paksi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maksym Zaderaka 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 Paksi 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 Fouad El Maach
The dugoutZoltán Pesti asks for a word with the manager
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 78 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Paksi, and it is not being withdrawn.
József Windecker 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 had been thinking. Bálint Vécsei 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Paksi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Paksi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Paksi they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paksi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Bálint Vécsei 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.
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 Danylo Khmelovskyi is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Paksi know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Paksi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Paksi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Paksi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Bálint Vécsei 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 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.
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Paksi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Paksi can pretend not to have heard.
József Windecker 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 had been thinking. Bálint Vécsei 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 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Paksi will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Tamás Kárász has, at Paksi, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad19 Feb 2029
János Hahn 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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
5 new faces, and Paksi are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Paksi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Bálint Vécsei 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 Maksym Zaderaka 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 Danylo Khmelovskyi is on it.
A new face in his position, and Barna Kesztyűs suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Paksi have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at Paksi says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Paksi. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Dominik Dibusz has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Barnabás Simon had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Paksi close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 5 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bálint Vécsei was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Paksi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” MFK Michalovce had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Paksi have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Paksi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
József Windecker 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 Bálint Vécsei was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Paksi 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.
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Paksi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The offer from Mladost Lucani for Zoltán Pesti 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.
Add another name to the list: MFK Michalovce have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Kevin Mondovics. The answer from Paksi has not changed — yet.
The offer went to MTK Budapest this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Vasilis Bratsiotis has, at Paksi, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maksym Zaderaka 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Paksi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Paksi had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Manchester United, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paksi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Bálint Vécsei 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 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 Paksi will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Paksi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Paksi have gone to MTK Budapest 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Simone Rossello is living that version at Paksi, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bálint Vécsei 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.
Paksi asked and Kolos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
54 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Paksi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Position 12 and 9 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.
“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 Paksi, 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 Paksi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Something was said to Ákos Kinyik and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The words a physio says slowly. 62 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.
Position 12 on 9 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.
“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 Paksi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and János Hahn was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
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 Dominik Dibusz to a room that had heard them before.
The words a physio says slowly. 69 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. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
0‑3 against MTK Budapest, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paksi 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 Bálint Vécsei was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
77 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Paksi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Two goals and a mark of 9.07 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
A brace, and Daniel Arzani takes the afternoon — 8.14
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Daniel Arzani provided it, and the 8.14 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
9 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Paksi and Ujpest in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bálint Vécsei was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
85 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Paksi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 11 and 9 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.
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 Paksi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Dec 2028
János Hahn 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 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.
1‑4 to Puskas Akademia, 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Paksi can pretend not to have heard.
József Windecker 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 Bálint Vécsei was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Paksi pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
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 1‑4 Dominik Dibusz left the room before anybody could ask which.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
107 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Paksi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Bálint Vécsei 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.
Kevin Mondovics scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Honved, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad13 Nov 2028
János Hahn 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.
He is 21 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.
114 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Paksi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Paksi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Position 11 and 8 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.
József Windecker 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.
22 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bálint Vécsei 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.
121 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Paksi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Paksi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Paksi can pretend not to have heard.
József Windecker 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 had been thinking. Bálint Vécsei 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 is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Paksi told Zsombor Bévárdi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Paksi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Paksi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Bálint Vécsei 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.
Squad23 Oct 2028
János Hahn 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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 Bamidele Yusuf is on it.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Ákos Kinyik
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Paksi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Paksi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
József Windecker and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Bálint Vécsei 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 Paksi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Paksi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 12 and 4 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Bamidele Yusuf provided it, and the 8.96 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
József Windecker 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Paksi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
62 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Paksi 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 Paksi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Paksi and Ujpest, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Bálint Vécsei falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It has 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Paksi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Paksi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
József Windecker and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Bálint Vécsei 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Paksi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
77 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Paksi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Barna Kesztyűs is a Paksi player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad11 Sep 2028
János Hahn 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.
Paksi asked and Inter said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 101 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Kevin Mondovics had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Paksi have done the hard part with Bayern Munich, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Paksi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Bálint Vécsei 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 15 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Paksi can pretend not to have heard.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Bálint Vécsei 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 morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. János Hahn 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Zoltán Pesti had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
At 21 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.
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 Paksi 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 Paksi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 29 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
In brief
SquadBálint Vécsei falls out with a teammate over standards
The dugoutZoltán Pesti knocks on the manager's door
“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 Paksi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Paksi will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
József Windecker 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Paksi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Vasas had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paksi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Csongor Kokovai is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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. Mantova have kept their man, and Paksi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Paksi can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bálint Vécsei 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.
Paksi have made the call to Mantova. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad3 Jul 2028
6 new faces, and Paksi are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
The dugout3 Jul 2028
Bence Lenzsér is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Nobody at Paksi 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Paksi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Paksi is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Bálint Vécsei 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 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.
In brief
SquadJános Hahn falls out with a teammate over standards
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Paksi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Georges Onday is living that version at Paksi, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maksym Zaderaka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Racing Genk have kept their man, and Paksi go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Paksi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Paksi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Paksi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Barnabás Simon had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The offer from MFK Michalovce for Zoltán Pesti 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Borussia Dortmund is saying, and nobody at Paksi is enjoying the guessing.
József Windecker 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 Bálint Vécsei was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Paksi asked and Olympique de Marseille 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 unglamorous genius of a well-written contract. Gábor Vas is somebody else's player now, and $366.7K has arrived because the people who sold him thought further ahead than the transfer window.
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Paksi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Paksi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Paksi can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bálint Vécsei 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.
Paksi have made the call to Borussia Dortmund. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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.
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Paksi lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Paksi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Bálint Vécsei 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 had been thinking. Maksym Zaderaka 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. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
József Windecker 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 Bálint Vécsei was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Paksi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Paksi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
József Windecker 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.
Squad15 May 2028
Bálint Vécsei 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.
Daniel Arzani has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Paksi can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Paksi will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Bálint Vécsei 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 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 dugout8 May 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Bence Lenzsér'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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Position 11 and 10 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.
Bálint Vécsei 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.
János Hahn 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Paksi, and 9 appearances in 39 say he has earned the hearing.
Bálint Vécsei and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Apr 2028
János Hahn 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.
“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 Paksi, 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 Paksi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maksym Zaderaka 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.
Bálint Vécsei 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 had been thinking. János Hahn 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Milán Szekszárdi, and the manager let it.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Bence Lenzsér'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.
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 Paksi says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
In brief
The dugoutOlivér Tamás asks for a word with the manager
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.
Bálint Vécsei 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.
János Hahn 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 watch every Paksi game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Astra runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Danylo Khmelovskyi is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Paksi. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paksi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. János Hahn 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.
Bálint Vécsei 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 had been thinking. János Hahn 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kristóf Papp, and the manager let it.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Bence Lenzsér'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.
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 Bamidele Yusuf is on it.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Paksi have no good answer.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Bálint Vécsei 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Paksi will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maksym Zaderaka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Paksi game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Astra runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Bálint Vécsei and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Feb 2028
János Hahn 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 watch every Paksi game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Vasas runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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 Paksi would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paksi 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 János Hahn was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Paksi asked and Südtirol said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bence Lenzsér trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 Paksi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Bálint Vécsei 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 had been thinking. Maksym Zaderaka 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.
“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.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Bence Lenzsér'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.
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 Bamidele Yusuf is on it.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Paksi are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 3 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Paksi until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Bálint Vécsei 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 János Hahn was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Paksi will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Bálint Vécsei and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Jan 2028
János Hahn 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. Karpaty have kept their man, and Paksi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Paksi have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
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 Danylo Khmelovskyi has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutBesar Halimi knocks on the manager's door
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Paksi 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 Paksi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maksym Zaderaka 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ferencvaros have kept their man, and Paksi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Dinamo Zagreb have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Paksi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Barnabás Simon signs something — a contract at Paksi or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” MFK Michalovce had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“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 Paksi, and it is not being withdrawn.
Bálint Vécsei 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 had been thinking. János Hahn 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 name of Márk Gyetván has come up in conversations Paksi were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Bence Lenzsér'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.
Nobody at Paksi 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Paksi. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Position 11 and 10 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Barnabás Simon had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Paksi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Bálint Vécsei 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 János Hahn 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 Paksi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Diosgyor have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Fouad El Maach. The answer from Paksi has not changed — yet.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Bálint Vécsei 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.
Something was said to Andrii Porokhnia and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 14 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bálint Vécsei was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Bence Lenzsér will call it something else in private.
13 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Paksi can tell you which week it ends in.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Paksi 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 Paksi 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 János Hahn was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
17 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Defensive actions: 16. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
Bence Lenzsér is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 12 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
0‑9 against PAOK. The honest reading is not that the players were poor; it is that the distance between this club and that one is currently measured in things money takes years to buy.
0‑4 to Ujpest, 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Paksi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
10 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Paksi can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paksi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Bálint Vécsei 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Paksi will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
0‑9. There is a level at which football is played every single week by clubs that have been doing it for fifty years, and an evening like this is what it feels like to arrive there without having done it.
9 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.
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 5 saves does not settle it either way.
Bálint Vécsei 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.
Match28 Nov 2027
Nobody could stop scoring
9 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Paksi and Rapid Wien in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. János Hahn 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.
7 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.
“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 Paksi, and it is not being withdrawn.
József Windecker 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 had been thinking. Bálint Vécsei 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 manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
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 0‑3 Dominik Dibusz left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
Squad6 new faces, and Paksi are still learning each other
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Paksi can tell you which week it ends in.
József Windecker 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 had been thinking. Bálint Vécsei 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.
0‑1 to Honved, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout15 Nov 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Dominik Dibusz to a room that had heard them before.
0‑1 away to the standard of Groningen. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Bálint Vécsei 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 had been thinking. János Hahn 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Paksi pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Paksi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bálint Vécsei 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 had been thinking. Bamidele Yusuf 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
0‑3. There is a level at which football is played every single week by clubs that have been doing it for fifty years, and an evening like this is what it feels like to arrive there without having done it.
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Paksi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Paksi can pretend not to have heard.
József Windecker 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 had been thinking. Bálint Vécsei 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.
12 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and János Hahn was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Paksi lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paksi 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 Bálint Vécsei was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Dominik Dibusz after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paksi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. James Pradic has, at Paksi, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. János Hahn 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.
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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
0‑8 against Rapid Wien. The honest reading is not that the players were poor; it is that the distance between this club and that one is currently measured in things money takes years to buy.
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.
5 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
József Windecker 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.
Match19 Sep 2027
Nobody could stop scoring
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Paksi and Rapid Wien in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Levente Szondi is living that version at Paksi, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bálint Vécsei 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 Paksi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Pavlo Stefaniuk has, at Paksi, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Bálint Vécsei 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 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
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 Dominik Dibusz left the room before anybody could ask which.
459 appearances across 19 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Paksi know exactly what they have.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Paksi close the window on a squad of their own making
15 in and 7 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.
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.
Bálint Vécsei 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 had been thinking. János Hahn 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 here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
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 1‑3 Dominik Dibusz left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutÁdám Kovácsik has become a man the manager trusts
Vasas go through and Paksi go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
József Windecker 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Oleksandr Kozlov has just signed for Paksi, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bálint Vécsei 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Tamas Nikolic has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Paksi have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Marked 8.00 — 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Paksi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Danylo Khmelovskyi is living that version at Paksi, and it tends to show in the first month.
József Windecker 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 had been thinking. Bálint Vécsei 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.
Paksi asked and Levante 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 offer from Pribram 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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Bálint Vécsei 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Csongor Kokovai is living that version at Paksi, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. János Hahn 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Banik Ostrava have kept their man, and Paksi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A 1‑0 win over Vasas, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Daniel Arzani was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.13. 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Paksi have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bálint Vécsei 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 Paksi will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Dominik Dibusz was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Paksi dressing room was either.
Paksi had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Porto, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
József Windecker 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Paksi will quote 17 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Bálint Vécsei 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.
Paksi asked and Las Palmas 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Gabor Botka 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and János Hahn was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Debrecen in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Paksi, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paksi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Bálint Vécsei 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. Benevento have kept their man, and Paksi go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
7 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.
Wolfsberger AC have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
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 Erik Silye is on it.
The offer went to Fehervar this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
József Windecker and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Bálint Vécsei 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. Crvena Zvezda have kept their man, and Paksi go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Ádám Kovácsik is on it.
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.
“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 Paksi, 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 Paksi this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 28 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. János Hahn 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.
Paksi asked and Charlton Athletic said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Crvena Zvezda have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.