18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Diosgyor 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. Louis Petitaud is living that version at Diosgyor, and it tends to show in the first month.
The clubs have shaken hands with Paksi; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Kisvárda paid $880.0K and Diosgyor took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Ákos Kecskés 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 offer went to Honved 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.
Diosgyor offered $160.0K; Debrecen said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Diosgyor asked and Bekescsaba 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.
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Diosgyor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The chase for Márk Könczey ended with $170.0K changing hands and Soroksár out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
$160.0K 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.
Diosgyor have gone to Bekescsaba 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.
Paksi will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Ilann Petrisot has pre-agreed a move to Diosgyor, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
The words a physio says slowly. 35 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 have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Diosgyor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$61.0K on the table at Honved. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Diosgyor asked and Budafoki MTE 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Álex Vallejo has his answer from Diosgyor; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Diosgyor lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Ákos Kecskés and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Diosgyor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tamás Géringer 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.
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Diosgyor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Anderson Esiti 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Diosgyor know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
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 Diosgyor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
57 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Diosgyor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Ákos Kecskés 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.
Squad15 May 2028
Noa Mikić 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 Peter Ambrose is on it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Diosgyor, another week without a signature from Timotej Múdry.
65 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Diosgyor lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Diosgyor can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Yohan Croizet-Kollár and Diosgyor agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Diosgyor 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 Noa Mikić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Ante Roguljić is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
The words a physio says slowly. 74 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.
“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.
Squad1 May 2028
5 new faces, and Diosgyor 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.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Ante Roguljić is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Peter Ambrose trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Bence Komlósi 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.
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 Tamás Géringer has written the date down.
81 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Diosgyor lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Noa Mikić 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.
Dávid Gróf 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dávid Gróf trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The words a physio says slowly. 88 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 terraces17 Apr 2028
The mood at Diosgyor 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.
Ákos Kecskés 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.
“I watch every Diosgyor game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Kazincbarcika runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Diosgyor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tamás Géringer 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.
“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; Diosgyor are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Márk Mucsányi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The words a physio says slowly. 96 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 easiest signature of my career.” Szabolcs Sáreczki and Diosgyor agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Diosgyor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tamás Géringer 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.
105 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Diosgyor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Attila Szalai has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Diosgyor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Noa Mikić 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 is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Diosgyor told Gábor Jurek something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Andrea Cecchetto's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
112 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Diosgyor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Ákos Kecskés 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Diosgyor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noa Mikić 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.
9 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.
The dugoutPatrik Pinte knocks on the manager’s door
86Edition
The Diosgyor Courier
20 Mar 2028
From our football correspondentCrisis
The terraces20 Mar 2028
The mood at Diosgyor 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.
Ákos Kecskés 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.
Nobody at Diosgyor 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Diosgyor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Diosgyor will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Diosgyor 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Diosgyor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
At 23 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yohan Croizet-Kollár was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ákos Kecskés 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
5 new faces, and Diosgyor 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Diosgyor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Diosgyor know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The mood at Diosgyor 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Diosgyor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Álex Vallejo 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 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 Diosgyor game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Kazincbarcika runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Diosgyor. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bence Bárdos trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
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 Diosgyor would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“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 Diosgyor will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at Diosgyor says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking it.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Attila Szalai has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Diosgyor close the window on a squad of their own making
5 in and 2 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.
Diosgyor asked and West Bromwich Albion 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Dávid Gróf is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Timotej Múdry's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Diosgyor lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Ákos Kecskés 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 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.
5 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Diosgyor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Diosgyor lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Diosgyor will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Diosgyor may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Diosgyor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yohan Croizet-Kollár 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Diosgyor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Diosgyor lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Position 10 and 21 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Diosgyor will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Position 10 on 21 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Diosgyor can pretend not to have heard.
5 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 Diosgyor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Diosgyor asked and MTK Budapest said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Diosgyor 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 Diosgyor 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 Diosgyor can pretend not to have heard.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Timotej Múdry has, at Diosgyor, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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.
MTK Budapest will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Krisztián László has pre-agreed a move to Diosgyor, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Diosgyor asked and West Bromwich Albion said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Diosgyor can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Diosgyor can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings3 Jan 2028
Up for the corner, and Ákos Kecskés delivers — 7.29
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Ákos Kecskés scored, was marked 7.29, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Diosgyor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Diosgyor and Nyíregyháza, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yohan Croizet-Kollár was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Diosgyor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Laurenz Orgler 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Diosgyor pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marko Miljković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ákos Kecskés 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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Diosgyor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yohan Croizet-Kollár 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.
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 Álex Vallejo.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ante Roguljić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Nikola Simić, 20, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where Diosgyor would like this to lead.
Two goals and a mark of 8.87 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Nikola Simić, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.66
A mark of 7.66 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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.
Ákos Kecskés 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 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 20 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Diosgyor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Diosgyor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Diosgyor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Miljković 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 month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Barnabás Barkóczi is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Something was said to Máté Sajbán and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Diosgyor 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 Diosgyor 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.
He is 23 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Position 11 and 14 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.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 90th minute. Kazincbarcika will replay every second of the added time for a week.
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 7.26 for the rest of it.
Álex Vallejo 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 18 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Diosgyor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yohan Croizet-Kollár 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.
Ákos Kecskés 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 Marko Miljković 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 Marko Miljković is on it.
Kazincbarcika next, and one man in the Diosgyor dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gábor Jurek trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Diosgyor would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Diosgyor know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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 Diosgyor will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
0‑3 to ETO Győr, 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Ákos Kecskés and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Diosgyor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yohan Croizet-Kollár 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.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody at Diosgyor 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 mood at Diosgyor 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Diosgyor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 14 combined actions and a mark of 7.35, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Gábor Jurek is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
0‑3 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.
Ákos Kecskés 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.
Position 11, 8 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Attila Szalai after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody at Diosgyor is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Diosgyor will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Dávid Gróf and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Diosgyor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yohan Croizet-Kollár 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 Diosgyor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Marko Miljković is on it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against ZTE in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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 Diosgyor 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 Diosgyor can pretend not to have heard.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Yohan Croizet-Kollár and Diosgyor agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It needed Máté Sajbán to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Nyíregyháza, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
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.” Attila Szalai chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
In brief
The dugoutPeter Ambrose has become a man the manager trusts
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Diosgyor will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Position 10 and 7 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.
Ákos Kecskés 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.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yohan Croizet-Kollár was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Diosgyor will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Ákos Kecskés 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Diosgyor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yohan Croizet-Kollár 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Diosgyor has been clear about where Bence Komlósi stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
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.” Attila Szalai chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Diosgyor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 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 Diosgyor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Diosgyor had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Ludogorets, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Fehervar were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 12 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Diosgyor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Bence Bárdos commits to Diosgyor for another 4 years.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Diosgyor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yohan Croizet-Kollár 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.
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 Peter Ambrose is on it.
Fehervar next, and one man in the Diosgyor dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The deal with Ludogorets is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Anderson Esiti 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 Yohan Croizet-Kollár 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. Ludogorets have kept their man, and Diosgyor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Marked 6.96 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Ante Roguljić
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 71 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Diosgyor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Diosgyor offered $750.0K; Szeged-Csanád GA said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Diosgyor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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 Diosgyor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Diosgyor had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Ludogorets, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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 Diosgyor 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.
Diosgyor asked and Cagliari said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 85 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Diosgyor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Diosgyor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yohan Croizet-Kollár 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 12 combined actions and a mark of 6.89, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Diosgyor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 92 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 Diosgyor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ákos Kecskés 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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Debrecen have kept their man, and Diosgyor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Viktor Gulacsi 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Balazs Lisztes has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Tamas Kleinheisler is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 100 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Diosgyor had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Ludogorets, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Ákos Kecskés 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Diosgyor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yohan Croizet-Kollár 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.
Diosgyor asked and Lokomotiv Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Diosgyor will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
MTK Budapest next, and one man in the Diosgyor dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Diosgyor have done the hard part with Ludogorets, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Nyíregyháza paid $340.0K and Diosgyor took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Diosgyor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yohan Croizet-Kollár 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. Rosario Central have kept their man, and Diosgyor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
13 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.
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Diosgyor lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Diosgyor had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Ludogorets, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Diosgyor asked and Debrecen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Diosgyor are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Still no offer on the table, and Gábor Jurek’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
In brief
The dugoutPeter Ambrose has become a man the manager trusts
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Diosgyor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Diosgyor can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
“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 Diosgyor, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Ludogorets is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at VfL Bochum is saying, and nobody at Diosgyor is enjoying the guessing.
Dávid Gróf 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 Yohan Croizet-Kollár was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Diosgyor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yohan Croizet-Kollár was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Diosgyor asked and CSKA Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Diosgyor know which stage they are at.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Diosgyor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 40 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 deal with Sturm Graz is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rosario Central have kept their man, and Diosgyor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Diosgyor have made the call to Eintracht Frankfurt. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad21 Jun 2027
5 new faces, and Diosgyor 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.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Diosgyor know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Diosgyor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 18 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.
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. Radnicki Nis have kept their man, and Diosgyor go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Diosgyor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Diosgyor have made the call to Dinamo Zagreb. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
56 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Diosgyor lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Diosgyor can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Budafoki MTE have kept their man, and Diosgyor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Márk Tamás 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Marco Lund has his answer from Diosgyor; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Ante Roguljić was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
64 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Diosgyor lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Ákos Kecskés 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.
“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.
Squad31 May 2027
Zétény Varga 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Diosgyor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
71 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Diosgyor 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 Diosgyor 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Diosgyor know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Bence Babos has written the date down.
78 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Diosgyor lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Diosgyor 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.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Diosgyor know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The words a physio says slowly. 87 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.
Squad10 May 2027
João Victor 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 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 Diosgyor know it.
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 board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Diosgyor, another week without a signature from Bence Bárdos.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bence Bárdos trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Diosgyor is running low.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Diosgyor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yohan Croizet-Kollár 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Diosgyor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Diosgyor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Diosgyor know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and João Victor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Márk Tamás and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2027
5 new faces, and Diosgyor 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 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.
Álex Vallejo 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 Yohan Croizet-Kollár was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Diosgyor know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Diosgyor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Diosgyor can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Lamin Colley 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 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.
In brief
The dugoutAnte Roguljić loses the manager who believed in him
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Diosgyor 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 João Victor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Máté Sajbán has written the date down.
At 18 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yohan Croizet-Kollár was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
9 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.
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 Peter Ambrose is on it.
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on João Victor
MatchNothing left to play for but pride at Diosgyor
33Edition
The Diosgyor Courier
15 Mar 2027
From our football correspondentUneasy
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Diosgyor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yohan Croizet-Kollár 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 Diosgyor know it.
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 board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
“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 Diosgyor know it.
Squad8 Mar 2027
João Victor 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.
Milán Pető 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.
He went out to keep goal every week and came back with 1 games and 1 of them shut out. Somebody at Diosgyor argued for this move last summer; nobody is arguing for it now.
In brief
The dugoutIvan Šaponjić knocks on the manager's door
“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 Diosgyor know it.
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Diosgyor know now that the thought has arrived.
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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Diosgyor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
1 appearances, 1 clean sheets, and a goalkeeper no further forward than the day he left. Whether that belongs to him, to the club that borrowed him or to the people who arranged it is the argument Diosgyor will have this month.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Stavros Panagiotou is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Diosgyor 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 Yohan Croizet-Kollár was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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 Peter Ambrose is on it.
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 Diosgyor would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
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.
Lamin Colley 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Diosgyor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. João Victor 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. Partizan have kept their man, and Diosgyor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Stavros Panagiotou and Diosgyor agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Diosgyor will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Diosgyor. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Diosgyor know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Peter Ambrose trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Dávid Gróf 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Stavros Panagiotou has just signed for Diosgyor, and for once the answer mattered.
Szeged-Csanád GA wanted more than $11.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yohan Croizet-Kollár was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Diosgyor asked and Stade de Reims 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 remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Diosgyor may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Diosgyor close the window on a squad of their own making
5 in and 2 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Metalist is saying, and nobody at Diosgyor is enjoying the guessing.
Diosgyor have gone to Szeged-Csanád GA 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.
The name of Gergő Holdampf has come up in conversations Diosgyor were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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. Widzew Łódź have kept their man, and Diosgyor go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Diosgyor can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Debrecen have kept their man, and Diosgyor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is 19, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Diosgyor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. João Victor 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.
5 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Diosgyor are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The offer from Ujpest for Marco Lund 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Diosgyor have done the hard part with Vasas, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The chase for Patrik Pinte ended with $410.0K changing hands and Honved out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yohan Croizet-Kollár was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Diosgyor asked and Rizespor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Márk Tamás 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.
“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 Diosgyor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
$410.0K settles it between the clubs for Patrik Pinte
Honved have accepted the money. What Diosgyor do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
1 for Ákos Kecskés, marked 7.56, 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.
Honved paid $210.0K and Diosgyor took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
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.
Márk Tamás 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.
Marked 8.14 — 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.
“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 Diosgyor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Diosgyor had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Marko Miljković has just signed for Diosgyor, and for once the answer mattered.
3 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.
Diosgyor asked and Bekescsaba said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
0‑4 against Ferencvaros, 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 Diosgyor 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Attila Szalai after 0‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody at Diosgyor 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Lamin Colley’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Diosgyor needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Eugene Radionov 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.
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 Aboubakar Keïta.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Ferencvaros in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lamin Colley. 1‑0 against Debrecen, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Ujpest.
Ujpest next, and one man in the Diosgyor dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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 Yohan Croizet-Kollár 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 Diosgyor, and 1 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Eugene Radionov and Diosgyor agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Ivan Šaponjić
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Ivan Šaponjić has come out of that comparison in the side, and Diosgyor have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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 dugout23 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.” Attila Szalai chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Máté Sajbán trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Successful dribbles: 8. 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.
Ákos Kecskés 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.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Márk Tamás trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yohan Croizet-Kollár 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 Diosgyor, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout9 Nov 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.” Attila Szalai, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Nobody at Diosgyor 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.
“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 Diosgyor, and 4 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
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 Attila Szalai left the room before anybody could ask which.
Eugene Radionov and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Lamin Colley
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Lamin Colley has come out of that comparison in the side, and Diosgyor have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Something was said to Gergő Holdampf and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
Marked 6.88 on 14 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
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 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Position 9, 11 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Squad26 Oct 2026
7 new faces, and Diosgyor 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.
Anderson Esiti 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 Yohan Croizet-Kollár 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.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Nyíregyháza in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Diosgyor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Diosgyor, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
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 squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Máté Sajbán’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Diosgyor needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ágoston Bényei trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.12 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Yohan Croizet-Kollár 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.
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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Milán Pető has come out of that comparison in the side, and Diosgyor have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Attila Szalai on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
SquadWords at Diosgyor training over how hard people work
1‑4 to Ferencvaros, 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.
Anderson Esiti 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 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
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 1‑4 defeat, delivered by Attila Szalai to a room that had heard them before.
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.
Beaten 4 times, with 3 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Puskas Akademia in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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 Diosgyor, and it is not being withdrawn.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Milán Pető did not need any: 7.61, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Lamin Colley 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 is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“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 Diosgyor, and it is not being withdrawn.
It had gone 6 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Diosgyor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yohan Croizet-Kollár 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.
Diosgyor asked and Andorra 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Diosgyor, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Diosgyor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
That is the business done at Diosgyor 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Diosgyor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yohan Croizet-Kollár 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.
Diosgyor asked and AZ 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 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.
Debrecen next, and one man in the Diosgyor dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
0‑3 against Kazincbarcika, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
6 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.
Diosgyor asked and Panathinaikos 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 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 dugout31 Aug 2026
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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Attila Szalai to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Diosgyor deserved better, and so did he.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Diosgyor has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Diosgyor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yohan Croizet-Kollár 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. PAOK have kept their man, and Diosgyor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Márk Tamás 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.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Attila Szalai was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Diosgyor dressing room was either.
$960.0K was the most the club would pay and ZTE were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Yohan Croizet-Kollár 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Borussia Dortmund 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Diosgyor training over how hard people work
Diosgyor have gone to Puskas Akademia 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.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $471.5K — a club that wants Pál Helmich enough to be asked twice.
$440.0K was the most the club would pay and Ujpest were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Anderson Esiti 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Istvan Gazdag is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Peter Botka has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Roland Lang 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Daniel Botka has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Diosgyor 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 Yohan Croizet-Kollár 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. Ajax have kept their man, and Diosgyor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Add another name to the list: Kazincbarcika have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Gábor Megyeri. The answer from Diosgyor has not changed — yet.