It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ETO Győr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ivan Katić has just signed for ETO Győr, and for once the answer mattered.
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.
Nobody at ETO Győr 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.
Position 5, 50 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during 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 ETO Győr, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
“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; ETO Győr are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Nobody at ETO Győr 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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at ETO Győr would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
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 Zoltán Szilágyi has written the date down.
Senna Miangué 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 Daniel Štefulj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and ETO Győr know now that the thought has arrived.
Squad8 Apr 2030
12 new faces, and ETO Győr 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Emerick Lopes has just signed for ETO Győr, and for once the answer mattered.
Senna Miangué 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 Daniel Štefulj was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. ETO Győr know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ETO Győr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Splinter de Mooij has, at ETO Győr, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad25 Mar 2030
Words at ETO Győr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitris Chatsidis 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 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for ETO Győr is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Nobody at ETO Győr 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.
Position 5 on 50 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ETO Győr 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 Dimitris Chatsidis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. ETO Győr will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
21 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings4 Mar 2030
Vasilije Kostov, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.26
A mark of 8.26 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Marcell Herczeg has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
He is 21, he is averaging 7.02, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Words at ETO Győr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitris Chatsidis 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
20 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ETO Győr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Words at ETO Győr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitris Chatsidis 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 dugout25 Feb 2030
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.” Bence Kleinheisler chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
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 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.
Marked 8.03 — 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Bence Kleinheisler could afford to be generous.
19 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Daniel Štefulj 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 easiest signature of my career.” Viktor Kanižaj and ETO Győr agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Words at ETO Győr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitris Chatsidis 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. Polissia have kept their man, and ETO Győr go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Vasilije Kostov 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.
ETO Győr ran out of time with ZTE. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $469.1K of what ETO Győr paid for Zsolt Magyar is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 2 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The deal with ZTE 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.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Fehervar moved on, Gellért Dúzs reports back to ETO Győr, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Daniel Štefulj 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 shirt still fits. Ákos Onódi is back at ETO Győr, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ETO Győr lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
18 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
$120.0K 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.
Squad28 Jan 2030
Words at ETO Győr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitris Chatsidis 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.
ETO Győr asked and Vasas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ETO Győr lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ETO Győr can pretend not to have heard.
ETO Győr offered $900.0K; Kisvárda 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.
Balázs Tóth 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.
Kisvárda paid $260.0K and ETO Győr took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dimitris Chatsidis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ETO Győr lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
17 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
ETO Győr have gone to Kisvárda 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 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.
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ETO Győr lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Daniel Štefulj 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.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Milán Vitális 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.
ETO Győr have made the call to Kecskeméti TE. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ETO Győr lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Successful dribbles: 34. 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.
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 finished 1‑0, and it was Milán Vitális’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to ETO Győr.
Player ratings31 Dec 2029
Milán Vitális was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.20. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The words a physio says slowly. 47 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.
16 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ETO Győr 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 Dimitris Chatsidis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Marked 8.18 — 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.
54 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ETO Győr lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ETO Győr can pretend not to have heard.
7.91, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Daniel Štefulj 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.
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
61 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ETO Győr lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
15 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Daniel Štefulj 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.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Milán Vitális 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.
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.
Minute 93, against Mezőkövesd, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
In brief
The dugoutSenna Miangué has become a man the manager trusts
69 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ETO Győr lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Balázs Tóth 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 Milán Vitális was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Vasilije Kostov 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 76 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.
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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 7.64 for the rest of it.
Balázs Tóth 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 Nov 2029
Words at ETO Győr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitris Chatsidis 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 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Balázs Tóth
84 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ETO Győr lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Daniel Štefulj 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 Dimitris Chatsidis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at ETO Győr can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Tiszakécske in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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.
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.
94 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ETO Győr lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
7.97, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Words at ETO Győr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Štefulj 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.
Zsolt Kojnok 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.
102 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ETO Győr lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Out, 0‑0 to Szeged-Csanád GA, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ETO Győr have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Words at ETO Győr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Štefulj 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.
Bálint Selyem 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.
109 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ETO Győr lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Successful dribbles: 35. 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.
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ETO Győr 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 22 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 118 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Daniel Štefulj was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Words at ETO Győr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitris Chatsidis 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Dimitris Chatsidis 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.
125 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ETO Győr lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at ETO Győr, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ETO Győr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Words at ETO Győr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitris Chatsidis 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; ETO Győr are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
It 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.
Karcag next, and one man in the ETO Győr dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Balázs Tóth was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Words at ETO Győr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitris Chatsidis 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ETO Győr have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
4 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ETO Győr 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.
Daniel Štefulj 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.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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 6.92, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words at ETO Győr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitris Chatsidis 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at ETO Győr can tell you which week it ends in.
At 23 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.
Daniel Štefulj 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 Dimitris Chatsidis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad17 Sep 2029
7 new faces, and ETO Győr 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Bence Kleinheisler after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“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 ETO Győr, and it is not being withdrawn.
Daniel Štefulj and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Milán Vitális 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 Senna Miangué is on it.
Kecskeméti TE next, and one man in the ETO Győr dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at ETO Győr has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at ETO Győr, another week without a signature from Claudiu Bumba.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $490.0K of what ETO Győr paid for Márk Kovácsréti is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Deadline passes with 20 signed and 15 gone
That is the business done at ETO Győr 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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Tamás Vid Tóth reports back to ETO Győr with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ETO Győr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
In brief
SquadWords at ETO Győr training over how hard people work
Gellért Dúzs 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.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Words at ETO Győr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Milán Vitális 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. Crvena Zvezda have kept their man, and ETO Győr go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is 22 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around ETO Győr people have started saying his name in the past tense.
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.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at ETO Győr can tell you which week it ends in.
The offer from Puskas Akademia for Dávid Zimonyi 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.
Daniel Štefulj 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.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rajmund Tóth was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
ETO Győr asked and Vasas 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 was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at ETO Győr has been clear about where Marlon stands, which is more than many ever get.
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ETO Győr 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 ETO Győr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Eneo Bitri is a ETO Győr player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Milán Vitális 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.
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.
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ETO Győr lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at ETO Győr, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Fehervar for Dávid Zimonyi 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.
ETO Győr moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Bence Kleinheisler, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Daniel Štefulj 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 words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Bekescsaba waiting with a shirt. Nobody at ETO Győr is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer from Nyíregyháza for Bence Gundel-Takács 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.
ETO Győr have gone to Kisvárda 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.
This is not rotation. Márk Kovácsréti has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at ETO Győr is pretending otherwise.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Rajmund Tóth 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.
40 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ETO Győr lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The offer from Ponte Preta for Marlon 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ETO Győr can pretend not to have heard.
Kisvárda wanted more than $56.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Words at ETO Győr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitris Chatsidis 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.
48 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ETO Győr lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around ETO Győr people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 ETO Győr, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to Kisvárda 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ETO Győr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Szeged-Csanád GA have kept their man, and ETO Győr go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The name of Dávid Zimonyi has come up in conversations ETO Győr 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.
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ETO Győr lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. ETO Győr have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ETO Győr can pretend not to have heard.
The fee is $360.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Budafoki MTE drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
“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 ETO Győr know it.
Daniel Štefulj 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 phone has started ringing about Márk Kovácsréti again, and this time the name on the line is Fehervar. ETO Győr are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Words at ETO Győr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rajmund Tóth 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. Kecskeméti TE have kept their man, and ETO Győr go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ETO Győr lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from Karcag for Kevin Bánáti 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.
The offer went to Kisvárda 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.
The name of Ármin Garamszegi-Géczy has come up in conversations ETO Győr were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Words at ETO Győr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ábel Krajcsovics 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.
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ETO Győr lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. ETO Győr have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 ETO Győr, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Fehervar for Dávid Zimonyi 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. ETO Győr have done the hard part with Panathinaikos, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
ETO Győr asked and ZTE said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
ETO Győr offered $56.0K; Kisvárda 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ábel Krajcsovics was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around ETO Győr people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 ETO Győr, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ETO Győr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$56.0K on the table at Kisvárda. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words at ETO Győr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Milán Vitális 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 name of Dávid Zimonyi has come up in conversations ETO Győr were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The offer from Athletic Club for Marlon 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.
“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 ETO Győr, and it is not being withdrawn.
Gellért Dúzs 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 Milán Vitális was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
ETO Győr asked and Tiszakécske 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.” Krisztián Tamás has his answer from ETO Győr; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
A loan enquiry to Puskas Akademia: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and ETO Győr have had the benefit of it.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Ronan Black has agreed terms with Vasas for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
This is not rotation. Márk Kovácsréti has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at ETO Győr is pretending otherwise.
Squad28 May 2029
Words at ETO Győr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ábel Krajcsovics 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 loan was meant to give him football. 0 games and 0 goals later he is back at ETO Győr no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
Something was said to George Byers and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Milán Vitális signs something — a contract at ETO Győr or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ETO Győr they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The shirt still fits. Claudiu Bumba is back at ETO Győr, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ábel Krajcsovics 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 ETO Győr, and 0 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at ETO Győr, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 ETO Győr would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“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 ETO Győr, and it is not being withdrawn.
Daniel Štefulj 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.
Nobody at ETO Győr 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.
6 goals in 19 games at LNZ — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at ETO Győr updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Position 4 on 52 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
“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 ETO Győr, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ETO Győr they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ETO Győr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ştefan Vlădoiu signs something — a contract at ETO Győr or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Márk Kovácsréti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
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 tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at ETO Győr can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Barnabás Bíró will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around ETO Győr the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Daniel Štefulj 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ábel Krajcsovics 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.
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 ETO Győr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Senna Miangué is on it.
6 goals in 19 games at LNZ — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at ETO Győr updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
52 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at ETO Győr, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ETO Győr can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ármin Garamszegi-Géczy will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around ETO Győr the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ETO Győr 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Dávid Zimonyi has his answer from ETO Győr; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Nyíregyháza will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Eneo Bitri has pre-agreed a move to ETO Győr, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
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.
George Byers 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 will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ETO Győr they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Daniel Štefulj 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.
7 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.
“I watch every ETO Győr game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at ZTE runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ETO Győr lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Nemanja Glavčić has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means ETO Győr have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
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.
Gellért Dúzs 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 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.
52 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Márk Kovácsréti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ETO Győr lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 52 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ármin Garamszegi-Géczy will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around ETO Győr the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ETO Győr 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.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ETO Győr lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Vincent Zeidler did not need any: 7.94, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Szentlőrinc will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Olivér Dinnyés has pre-agreed a move to ETO Győr, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ETO Győr lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at ETO Győr, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ETO Győr they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
ETO Győr asked and Stromsgodset 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 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 words a physio says slowly. 50 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.
Daniel Štefulj 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 Christian Zawieschitzky was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Vincent Zeidler. 1‑0 against Ajka, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“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 ETO Győr, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ETO Győr they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ETO Győr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Ádám Szekér has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means ETO Győr have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
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.
ETO Győr 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.
At 37, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 85th, and Kozármisleny spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ETO Győr can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ajka waiting with a shirt. Nobody at ETO Győr is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings5 Feb 2029
Vincent Zeidler, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.84
A mark of 7.84 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.
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 7.87 for the rest of it.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” ETO Győr may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
ETO Győr 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.
$180.0K was the most the club would pay and Ferencvaros 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.
Successful dribbles: 39. 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.
The offer from Kisvárda for Marcell Huszár 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.
1 for George Byers, marked 7.54, 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ETO Győr is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
ETO Győr have gone to Ferencvaros 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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Milán Vitális 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Olimpija Ljubljana have kept their man, and ETO Győr 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 ETO Győr can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Budafoki MTE 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.
Daniel Štefulj 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 phone has started ringing about Marcell Huszár again, and this time the name on the line is Kisvárda. ETO Győr are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
ETO Győr asked and Kisvárda said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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 ETO Győr, and it is not being withdrawn.
The chase for Ábel Krajcsovics ended with $1.1M changing hands and Ujpest out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ETO Győr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Milán Vitális 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Szentlőrinc have kept their man, and ETO Győr 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 ETO Győr can pretend not to have heard.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Barnabás Bíró has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
José Sampaio 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 Milán Vitális was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The phone has started ringing about Dávid Zimonyi again, and this time the name on the line is Fehervar. ETO Győr are listening politely and promising nothing.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 90th minute. Soroksár will replay every second of the added time for a week.
“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 ETO Győr, and it is not being withdrawn.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. ETO Győr had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ETO Győr have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Daniel Štefulj 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.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Words at ETO Győr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Zawieschitzky 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Diogo Martins 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.
Daniel Štefulj 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.
9 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at ETO Győr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rajmund Tóth 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 medical room confirms 53 days on the sidelines for Roland Lang, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Bence Kleinheisler was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the ETO Győr dressing room was either.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ETO Győr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at ETO Győr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Zawieschitzky 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Bence Kleinheisler after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Successful dribbles: 33. 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.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Vincent Zeidler did not need any: 7.71, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at ETO Győr, and 0 appearances in 15 say he has earned the hearing.
At 20 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.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Stipe Vladušić 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.
José Sampaio and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at ETO Győr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rajmund Tóth 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Diogo Martins is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Diogo Martins is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Nobody at ETO Győr 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ETO Győr can pretend not to have heard.
Daniel Štefulj 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 Christian Zawieschitzky was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Diogo Martins 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.
Position 5, 25 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ETO Győr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Milán Vitális 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.
At 37, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Kecskeméti TE next, and one man in the ETO Győr dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Senna Miangué signs something — a contract at ETO Győr or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at ETO Győr, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one ETO Győr will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ETO Győr have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
This is not rotation. Márk Kovácsréti has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at ETO Győr is pretending otherwise.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Milán Vitális 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at ETO Győr, and 0 appearances in 11 say he has earned the hearing.
The first defeat in 10 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Vasas; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Daniel Štefulj 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at ETO Győr, and 1 appearances in 19 say he has earned the hearing.
At 20 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. ETO Győr will try not to make too much of it.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Márton Szép is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ETO Győr can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ETO Győr have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Position 3, 21 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation ETO Győr did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Vincent Zeidler, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.64
A mark of 7.64 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.
Daniel Štefulj 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.
“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; ETO Győr are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
José Sampaio 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 Rajmund Tóth was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“It 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
“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 ETO Győr, and it is not being withdrawn.
José Sampaio 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Stipe Vladušić has his answer from ETO Győr; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Vincent Zeidler is 20, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Paksi in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dominik Farkas will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around ETO Győr the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Daniel Štefulj 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.
At 20 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Vincent Zeidler. 2‑0 against Kozármisleny, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
7 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.
Position 3, 16 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Daniel Štefulj 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 ETO Győr game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Hradec Králové runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rajmund Tóth was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Zsolt Magyar 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ETO Győr 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 ETO Győr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at ETO Győr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Zawieschitzky 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.
Marked 8.17. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at ETO Győr.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
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.” Bence Kleinheisler, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
In brief
The dugoutGeorge Byers knocks on the manager's door
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ETO Győr can pretend not to have heard.
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 earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Bence Kleinheisler on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ETO Győr have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Fehervar moved on, Dávid Zimonyi reports back to ETO Győr, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ETO Győr is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Daniel Štefulj 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 Rajmund Tóth 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.
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Márk Kovácsréti reports back to ETO Győr with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
ETO Győr close the window on a squad of their own making
29 in and 17 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.
José Sampaio and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at ETO Győr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Zawieschitzky 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 medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. ETO Győr have done the hard part with Red Bull Salzburg, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The chase for Tamás Vid Tóth ended with $590.0K changing hands and Fehervar out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
José Sampaio 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.
Add another name to the list: Puskas Akademia have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Márk Kovácsréti. The answer from ETO Győr has not changed — yet.
ETO Győr asked and Valenciennes 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 21 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Márton Szép was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
18 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Karcag were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ETO Győr have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Marlon had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ETO Győr 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 ETO Győr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
ETO Győr asked and Forli said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$6.4M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
11 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.
He is going to Fehervar, the club has $6.4M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ETO Győr can pretend not to have heard.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Feyenoord is saying, and nobody at ETO Győr is enjoying the guessing.
Daniel Štefulj 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.
ETO Győr asked and Red Bull Salzburg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
17 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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 10 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Daniel Štefulj 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.
ETO Győr asked and BVSC-Zugló said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
9 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around ETO Győr people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ETO Győr have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Dávid Zimonyi reports back to ETO Győr with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
ETO Győr 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.
“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 ETO Győr, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. ETO Győr have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ETO Győr is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The deal with Kecskeméti TE 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ETO Győr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Kevin Bánáti has come up in conversations ETO Győr were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at ETO Győr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rajmund Tóth 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.
11 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ETO Győr can pretend not to have heard.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. ETO Győr have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Poltava had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. ETO Győr have done the hard part with FC Rouen, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Feyenoord is saying, and nobody at ETO Győr is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ETO Győr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Marlon from ZTE for $1.1M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. ETO Győr have done the hard part with Szentlőrinc, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bekescsaba have kept their man, and ETO Győr go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. ETO Győr have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at ETO Győr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rajmund Tóth 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.
ETO Győr have made the call to Feyenoord. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Nobody at ETO Győr 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.
“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 ETO Győr, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. ETO Győr have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: NK Osijek keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
ETO Győr asked and Mezőkövesd said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rajmund Tóth was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
ETO Győr have made the call to Feyenoord. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ETO Győr can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ETO Győr they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ETO Győr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at ETO Győr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Milán Vitális 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. Leicester City have kept their man, and ETO Győr go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Paul Anton has his answer from ETO Győr; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad26 Jun 2028
8 new faces, and ETO Győr are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The offer from Pirin Blagoevgrad for Dominik Farkas 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Red Bull Salzburg keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Daniel Štefulj 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 approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Rajmund Tóth 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.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. ETO Győr know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
ETO Győr have made the call to Budafoki MTE. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. ETO Győr will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ETO Győr can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Lechia for Oleksandr Pyshchur 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.
Add another name to the list: Diosgyor have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Gellért Dúzs. The answer from ETO Győr has not changed — yet.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. ETO Győr have done the hard part with CFR Cluj, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Daniel Štefulj 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Andras Bese 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.
Nobody at ETO Győr 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Barnabás Bíró
The dugoutThe manager makes Gellért Dúzs a promise
It is arithmetic now, and the arithmetic is done. A summer of hard questions starts early at ETO Győr, and next season's fixture list reads very differently.
“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 ETO Győr, and it is not being withdrawn.
ETO Győr have made the call to Kecskeméti TE. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at ETO Győr has been clear about where Gergő Rácz stands, which is more than many ever get.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ETO Győr they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ETO Győr this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad29 May 2028
6 new faces, and ETO Győr are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Deian Boldor may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at ETO Győr training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcell Huszár 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 ETO Győr, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Senna Miangué signs something — a contract at ETO Győr or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.