Marked for Dániel Karacs
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
The scrutiny sharpens at Csákvár
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Csákvár is running low.
Market5 Jul 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Csákvár, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Jul 2027
299 appearances across 9 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and Csákvár know exactly what they have.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Csákvár have done the hard part with Tiszakécske, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Ádám Lang 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Csákvár
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marko Jovović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Csákvár asked and Nyíregyháza 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 dugout5 Jul 2027
“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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Márton Zámbó and Csákvár agree another 4 years.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Kazincbarcika keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad21 Jun 2027
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Željko Arsić 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Kamel Ghanem arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Kamel Ghanem has, at Csákvár, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Zsolt Pap 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.
Market21 Jun 2027
Kamel Ghanem is 18, and Csákvár have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dániel Karacs, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
Márton Lorentz asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Jun 2027
Noel László hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Csákvár can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Jun 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Csákvár have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Bence Szabó 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 Csákvár this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A row about effort at Csákvár
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ádám Lang was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Daniel Robles-Larsen and Csákvár agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Jun 2027
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Csákvár are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bence Tifán-Péter, and the manager let it.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
Márk Helembai knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Márk Helembai trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
Open for business: Csákvár enter the window
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 May 2027
Bence Szabó 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Ádám Lang 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.
Boardroom17 May 2027
146% of the income goes out in wages at Csákvár
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The dugout17 May 2027
Bence Ominger 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.
Market17 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Željko Arsić’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout17 May 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
Uneasy
Squad3 May 2027
A falling-out at Csákvár
Bence Szabó and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
A row about effort at Csákvár
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dénes Szakály was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout3 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Dániel Karacs
“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.
Boardroom3 May 2027
Csákvár counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Csákvár now.
The dugout3 May 2027
A promise honoured at Csákvár
Something was said to Antoine Hoppenot and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout3 May 2027
Márton Lorentz 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 Csákvár, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Csákvár may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Apr 2027
The step up is real for Márton Szép
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Bence Szabó 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 Csákvár this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Csákvár
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ádám Lang was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“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.
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
Csákvár counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Csákvár now.
Squad5 Apr 2027
The captaincy has been taken off Dénes Szakály. Csákvár will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
The terraces5 Apr 2027
Supporters make their feelings known about Jovan Živković
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Csákvár would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
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 Dániel Karacs has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Feb 2027
Željko Arsić 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Csákvár training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ádám Lang 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.
Match20 Feb 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
Wages swallow 127% of the Csákvár income
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The dugout22 Feb 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 Andras Sallai left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Csákvár pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dániel Karacs, and the manager let it.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Márton Szép leaves them behind him
Shots: 7. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
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
Market11 Jan 2027
Bence Ominger hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Csákvár can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
A defender's goal wins it for Csákvár — 7.46
1 for Marko Jovović, marked 7.46, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
$270.0K on the table at Debrecen. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Csákvár
Željko Arsić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match9 Jan 2027
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Csákvár
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marko Jovović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nyíregyháza have kept their man, and Csákvár go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad11 Jan 2027
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 34 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Dec 2026
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Marko Jovović will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Csákvár escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Squad7 Dec 2026
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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Marko Jovović goes up and wins it — 7.94
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.94 for the rest of it.
Match5 Dec 2026
4 matches without a win for Csákvár
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Csákvár are no longer polite ones.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Csákvár
Željko Arsić 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Antoine Hoppenot and Csákvár agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Csákvár are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Match5 Dec 2026
It needed Marko Jovović to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Honved, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Csákvár
Željko Arsić 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Marko Jovović 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Andras Sallai chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Roland Baracskai, and the manager let it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Bendegúz Lehoczki is the weekend's best young player
At 19 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A booking nobody needed, on a night the game was already won. Csákvár lose a player for the most avoidable reason there is.
Market9 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jovan Živković signs something — a contract at Csákvár or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match17 Oct 2026
Nobody wants to play Csákvár right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Csákvár
Željko Arsić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Csákvár training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Jovović 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
A 2‑0 win over Tiszakécske, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Match17 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Csákvár. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Željko Arsić at his very best
Marked 8.29. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Csákvár.
Squad19 Oct 2026
8 new faces, and Csákvár 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Andras Sallai, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Csákvár
Željko Arsić 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.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match12 Sep 2026
Three points for Csákvár, 1‑0 the final word against Karcag in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Csákvár
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dénes Szakály was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Nobody on the pitch touched Bence Szabó
7.64, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Csákvár had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Andras Sallai, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dániel Karacs, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead14 Sep 2026
Soroksár next, and one man in the Csákvár dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Squad14 Sep 2026
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Csákvár has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.