24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Budafoki MTE lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Budafoki MTE, and it is not being withdrawn.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 Budafoki MTE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Budafoki MTE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alan Browne 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.
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Budafoki MTE lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Andrei Artean 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 Alan Browne was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Tiszakécske scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
The words a physio says slowly. 38 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Andrei Artean and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad16 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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Budafoki MTE would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Maciej Soboczyński trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Richárd Rabatin has written the date down.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Budafoki MTE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words at Budafoki MTE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Régis Gurtner 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 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.
Andrei Artean 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.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Paksi were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Alan Browne 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.
Budafoki MTE asked and Universitatea Cluj said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Budafoki MTE can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 20 signed and 14 gone
That is the business done at Budafoki MTE 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.
40 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Budafoki MTE lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Budafoki MTE will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alan Browne was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Zsombor Gruber has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
71 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Budafoki MTE lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Budafoki MTE 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 Budafoki MTE can pretend not to have heard.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Budafoki MTE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Régis Gurtner 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. Panetolikos have kept their man, and Budafoki MTE go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Komnen Andrić is in the works
100 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Budafoki MTE lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Budafoki MTE 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 Budafoki MTE can pretend not to have heard.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Budafoki MTE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Botond Nándori 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. Szeged-Csanád GA have kept their man, and Budafoki MTE go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The words a physio says slowly. 37 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.
“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 Budafoki MTE, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom8 May 2028
An order from above at Budafoki MTE: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Slobodan Babić 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.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Budafoki MTE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Botond Nándori 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 have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Budafoki MTE know 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 Budafoki MTE, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Budafoki MTE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Budafoki MTE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dávid Kálnoki-Kis is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Budafoki MTE, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Budafoki MTE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everybody at Budafoki MTE saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
8 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Budafoki MTE, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Budafoki MTE are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Budafoki MTE know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Teruel 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 Teruel 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 Marco Sangalli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Teruel, and 0 appearances in 14 say he has earned the hearing.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Andrés Márquez after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.