Marked for Dávid Kelemen
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings6 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 44. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match4 Aug 2029
MTK Budapest make home a hard place to visit
15 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Mihály Kata has been here 10 seasons
259 appearances across 10 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2029
Everything agreed with Ujpest, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Stipe Radić in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MTK Budapest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market6 Aug 2029
The shirt still fits. Dávid Kelemen is back at MTK Budapest, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Mihály Kata 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.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sparta Prague have kept their man, and MTK Budapest go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Zsolt Lang has improved at 25, which nobody expected
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. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Feb 2029
A fracture rules Jean Louchet out for 40 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Nimes will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Igor Draszczyk gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Igor Draszczyk has just signed for Nimes, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad26 Feb 2029
A row about effort at Nimes
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Bayo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom26 Feb 2029
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Rayan Jerbi has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Nimes have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words exchanged at Nimes
Joan Tincres 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 dugout26 Feb 2029
Giannis Pasas knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Nimes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market26 Feb 2029
Nimes shop where it costs nothing
Igor Draszczyk signs, and the fee column stays empty. Deals like this look small in July and clever by March — or they are never mentioned again.
Market26 Feb 2029
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Nimes money.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Nimes. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Jan 2029
Toulouse FC come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Nimes did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market29 Jan 2029
“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 Nimes, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market29 Jan 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Suduva waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Nimes is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market29 Jan 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Nimes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad29 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nimes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Jan 2029
A move Côme Bianay would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Côme Bianay is living that version at Nimes, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad29 Jan 2029
A row about effort at Nimes
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Florian Miguel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2029
Nimes asked and Clermont Foot said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Nimes are still strangers to each other
8 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout28 Feb 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad28 Feb 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nimes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Feb 2028
A row about effort at Nimes
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolas Wasbauer was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Feb 2028
No place for Dávid Kelemen in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Nimes are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
The manager makes an example of Dramane Diaby
“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.
Market28 Feb 2028
At 35, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Alpha Kubota-Sawaneh'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.
Loan watch28 Feb 2028
The goals keep arriving from Joan Tincres’s exile
6 goals in 20 games at CR Belouizdad — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Nimes updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Market28 Feb 2028
Luca Dias linked with a move away
The name of Luca Dias keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Nimes say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Jan 2028
Uroš Ljubomirac damages knee ligaments — 59 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 59 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 dugout10 Jan 2028
Gergő Nagy: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bekescsaba have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market10 Jan 2028
“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 Bekescsaba, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
Fee done, terms next for Habib Maïga
Bekescsaba and Ferencvaros have settled on $410.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Squad10 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bekescsaba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
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Squad10 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Bekescsaba
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dávid Bobál was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market10 Jan 2028
Add another name to the list: Vasas have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Roland Vólent. The answer from Bekescsaba has not changed — yet.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Nov 2027
Uroš Ljubomirac damages knee ligaments — 115 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 115 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
6 saves: Vaso Vasić was the team
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match20 Nov 2027
The wait goes on for Bekescsaba
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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Szabolcs Szalai 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Bekescsaba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Richárd Zsolnai 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 dugout22 Nov 2027
The team sheet said everything about Ádám Viczián
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Ádám Viczián.
Market22 Nov 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Kristóf Sármány has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Bekescsaba.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
Filip Borsos 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.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Oct 2027
No end in sight to Bekescsaba's wait for a win
18 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Bekescsaba has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces4 Oct 2027
The mood at Bekescsaba has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad4 Oct 2027
István Albert damages knee ligaments — 15 days out
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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
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.
Match2 Oct 2027
A 3-goal lead gone for Bekescsaba
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Ferencvaros kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Bekescsaba will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Match2 Oct 2027
9 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad4 Oct 2027
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Boardroom4 Oct 2027
Pressure builds in the Bekescsaba boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Bekescsaba may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.