“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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Honved training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Osman Hadžikić 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. Oțelul Galați have kept their man, and Honved go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Kevin Varga 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 system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
6 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Honved has been clear about where Ákos Baki stands, which is more than many ever get.
Nobody at Honved 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 turn on the $690.0K sale of Tibor Szabó
He is going to MTK Budapest, the club has $690.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
MTK Budapest pay $690.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at Honved training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Osman Hadžikić 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.
Richárd Zsolnai 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Istvan Szoboszlai after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad14 Aug 2028
5 new faces, and Honved 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Honved this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alex Szabó commits to Honved for another 3 years.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at Honved training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dániel Tiefenbach 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.
Something was said to Kevin Varga and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Maksym Hryso has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Osman Hadžikić signs something — a contract at Honved or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Daniel Fois is living that version at Honved, and it tends to show in the first month.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Honved this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Nikola Lainović commits to Honved for another 4 years.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Honved training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Kállai 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Osman Hadžikić signs something — a contract at Honved or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 99 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Obolon 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 Siyabonga Ngezana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Maksym Hryso has his answer from Obolon; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Obolon, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Obolon will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.