“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 The request is on a desk at Fehervar, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Thanasis Karamanis 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.
Marked 7.13 on 14 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Simón Bodnar 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.
“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.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Balazs Kleinheisler to a room that had heard them before.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Simón Bodnar did not need any: 7.68, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josué Kongolo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Half the programme played, position 9, 13 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Fehervar told Marko Poletanović something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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 7.88 for the rest of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fehervar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Fehervar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Poletanović 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 used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Nyíregyháza in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Thanasis Karamanis 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 Marko Poletanović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I watch every Fehervar game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Debrecen runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Fehervar will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Nobody at Fehervar will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Filip Vasiljević signs something — a contract at Fehervar or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Fehervar would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Thanasis Karamanis 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Fehervar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josué Kongolo 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 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Simón Bodnar 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.
8 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.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.54 on the card, and the Fehervar support went home talking about one name.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
Benedek Murka is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
1 for Thanasis Karamanis, marked 7.69, 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.
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.
Thanasis Karamanis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Fehervar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Poletanović is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I watch every Fehervar game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Kozármisleny runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
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.
Fehervar had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Ludogorets, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fehervar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Union Brescia have kept their man, and Fehervar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Csaba Spandler
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Fehervar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Fehervar, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Fehervar can tell you which week it ends in.
Thanasis Karamanis 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 Josué Kongolo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Fehervar can pretend not to have heard.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Fehervar close the window on a squad of their own making
25 in and 8 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.
The deal with Ludogorets is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Josué Kongolo 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Fehervar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Poletanović 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.
Everybody at Fehervar saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 37 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Stade de Reims keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fehervar 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. Vasas have kept their man, and Fehervar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Simón Bodnar 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.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Fehervar may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
$97.0K settles it between the clubs for Tamás Fadgyas
Vasas have accepted the money. What Fehervar do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“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 Fehervar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Ludogorets is saying, and nobody at Fehervar is enjoying the guessing.
Simón Bodnar 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 Josué Kongolo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ludogorets have kept their man, and Fehervar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Fehervar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Ludogorets is saying, and nobody at Fehervar is enjoying the guessing.
Thanasis Karamanis 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 Marko Poletanović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Fehervar has been clear about where Aleksandar Desančić stands, which is more than many ever get.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Fehervar will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
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 7.82 for the rest of it.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Bence Babos and Fehervar agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Fehervar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Poletanović 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. Thanasis Karamanis 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Fehervar, another week without a signature from Aleksandar Desančić.
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.
“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 Fehervar, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Fehervar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Krisztián Kovács 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 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Bence Bese has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Istra 1961 is saying, and nobody at Fehervar 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 Fehervar 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ferencvaros have kept their man, and Fehervar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
Gergely Nagy is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
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 Zsolt Kojnok is on it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against ZTE in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Fehervar had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Ludogorets, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Thanasis Karamanis 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Simón Bodnar 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. Ludogorets have kept their man, and Fehervar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Krisztian Lang is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Andras Sallai 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Viktor Kleinheisler 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and ZTE waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Fehervar is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The deal with Racing Genk is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Racing Genk is saying, and nobody at Fehervar is enjoying the guessing.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Murillo is living that version at Fehervar, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Krisztián Kovács was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Fehervar have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Ludogorets is saying, and nobody at Fehervar is enjoying the guessing.
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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Fehervar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marko Poletanović 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. Donát Zsótér is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Botond Kemenes has left for Budafoki MTE in a $340.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Fehervar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Krisztián Kovács 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.
Fehervar asked and ETO Győr said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Simón Bodnar 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 dugout28 Jun 2027
Gergely Nagy is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Fehervar 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.
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 Zsolt Kojnok is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Fehervar know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Fehervar. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Budafoki MTE waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Fehervar is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Aleksandar Desančić 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.
Dinamo Makhachkala have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
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. Fehervar will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
In brief
The dugoutDávid Zimonyi has become a man the manager trusts
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fehervar 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. Levski have kept their man, and Fehervar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Attila Nikolic is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Krisztian Nagy has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Daniel Gulacsi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simón Bodnar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Mathematically certain, and nobody in this town is going to bed early. Whatever else happened this season, it finishes a division above where it started.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 22 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fehervar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Fehervar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Krisztián Kovács 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.
Fehervar 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.
The name of Zsombor Menyhárt has come up in conversations Fehervar were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Fehervar will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
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.
Patrik Kovács 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Donát Zsótér trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Fehervar know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Fehervar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Marko Poletanović.
Malik Pimpong 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.
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 Maksim Kireev is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Fehervar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fehervar 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Fehervar will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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.
Krisztián Kovács 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Nobody at Fehervar will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bence Bedi signs something — a contract at Fehervar or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Fehervar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Krisztián Kovács is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fehervar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fehervar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Fehervar. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Patrik Kovács signs something — a contract at Fehervar or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Fehervar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Krisztián Kovács 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Fehervar has been clear about where Dávid Zimonyi stands, which is more than many ever get.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Donát Zsótér trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bence Kovács was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Fehervar lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fehervar 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 Krisztián Kovács was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The young player of the month award goes to a 19-year-old at Fehervar who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Fehervar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 2, 58 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.
Malik Pimpong 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Fehervar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Krisztián Kovács 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
5 new faces, and Fehervar 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.
Nobody at Fehervar will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Fehervar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Donát Zsótér signs something — a contract at Fehervar or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
A 3‑1 win over Kecskeméti TE, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
A brace, and Maksim Kireev takes the afternoon — 8.31
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Maksim Kireev provided it, and the 8.31 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Fehervar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Malik Pimpong did not need any: 7.71, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
ZTE will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Bence Várkonyi has pre-agreed a move to Fehervar, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Malik Pimpong 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.
In brief
Player ratingsPatrik Kovács beats them one at a time
91 minutes played. Panagiotis Tsantilas found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Tiszakécske went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Fehervar will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.75 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
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.
17 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Fehervar will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Krisztián Kovács was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Justin Forst and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Fehervar pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
16 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fehervar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Fehervar will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Fehervar can pretend not to have heard.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Krisztián Kovács was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Roland Varga will call it something else in private.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Balazs Kleinheisler left the room before anybody could ask which.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
15 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Partizan is saying, and nobody at Fehervar is enjoying the guessing.
Krisztián Kovács 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Fehervar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleksandar Desančić 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.
Fehervar asked and Atromitos 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 22 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Roland Varga
The dugoutThe team sheet said everything about Donát Zsótér
The deal with Admira Wacker 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 Fehervar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fehervar asked and Angers SCO said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Fehervar know which stage they are at.
A 1‑1 draw with Mezőkövesd leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Benedek Murka is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Position 3, 45 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.
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Fehervar close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 0 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.
Malik Pimpong 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.
Fehervar asked and Nyíregyháza said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Aleksandar Desančić will call it something else in private.
“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 Fehervar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Filip Vasiljević scored, was marked 7.61, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Partizan keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Fehervar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleksandar Desančić 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.
Fehervar asked and Zaglebie said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Filip Vasiljević. 1‑0 against Csákvár, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Partizan is saying, and nobody at Fehervar is enjoying the guessing.
Krisztián Kovács 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.
Fehervar asked and Rizespor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Maksim Kireev 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Maksim Kireev. 1‑0 against Kecskeméti TE, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Fehervar scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
A brace, and Dávid Zimonyi takes the afternoon — 8.54
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dávid Zimonyi provided it, and the 8.54 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Patrik Kovács, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.68
A mark of 7.68 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.
12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Fehervar have done the hard part with Atromitos, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Everybody at Fehervar saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Mezőkövesd will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Péter Zachán has pre-agreed a move to Fehervar, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Fehervar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Krisztián Kovács 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.
0‑4 to Vasas, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Position 3, 38 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.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Fehervar will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fehervar 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dynamo Kyiv have kept their man, and Fehervar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 7.83 for the rest of it.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Krisztián Kovács and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Fehervar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleksandar Desančić 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 fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
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.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Szentlőrinc the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Fehervar will enjoy reviewing.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Zsolt Haraszti provided it, and the 8.51 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Nobody at Fehervar is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
A brace, and Maksim Kireev takes the afternoon — 8.23
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Maksim Kireev provided it, and the 8.23 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Krisztián Kovács was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 22 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.
Kevin Körmendi 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Balazs Kleinheisler could afford to be generous.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Fehervar 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 Fehervar 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 first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Szeged-Csanád GA; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Patrik Kovács did not need any: 8.38, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
9 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Krisztián Kovács was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Benedek Murka 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Patrik Kovács 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.
Half the programme played, position 2, 30 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Two goals and a mark of 8.38 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Up for the corner, and Benedek Murka delivers — 7.97
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Benedek Murka scored, was marked 7.97, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Filip Vasiljević scored, was marked 7.64, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Krisztián Kovács and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Fehervar and Bekescsaba in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Fehervar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Filip Vasiljević 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.
Krisztián Kovács 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Donát Zsótér trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Fehervar 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.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Maksim Kireev obliged against Soroksár. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Fehervar.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.29 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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 Fehervar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 22 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Maksim Kireev at his very best
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 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Balazs Kleinheisler on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Botond Kemenes has his answer from Fehervar; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Fehervar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A point taken on 88 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Kevin Körmendi 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.
11 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Balazs Kleinheisler after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Zsombor Menyhárt is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
9 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.
Bence Kovács 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 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.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fehervar 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.
Something was said to Kevin Körmendi and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Mezőkövesd in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Donát Zsótér signs something — a contract at Fehervar or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Fehervar the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Budafoki MTE; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
At 36, 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.
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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.81 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Krisztián Kovács was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Patrik Kovács 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Balazs Kleinheisler after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Aleksandar Desančić signs something — a contract at Fehervar or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Fehervar had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Basel, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Krisztián Kovács 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Balazs Kleinheisler chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Krisztián Kovács trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
SquadThe division's best last weekend was a Fehervar man
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Zsolt Haraszti provided it, and the 8.94 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Racing Genk keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Partizan have kept their man, and Fehervar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fehervar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Fehervar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dániel Bartusz 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 deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 13 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Fehervar have done the hard part with KV Mechelen, 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 ETO Győr is saying, and nobody at Fehervar is enjoying the guessing.
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.
Fehervar asked and Sparta Prague said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Zsolt Haraszti is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Patrik Kovács did not need any: 7.98, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Filip Vasiljević scored, was marked 7.56, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Utrecht is saying, and nobody at Fehervar is enjoying the guessing.
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 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.34 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Fehervar have done the hard part with ETO Győr, 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 Olympiacos is saying, and nobody at Fehervar is enjoying the guessing.
Krisztián Kovács was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He 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. Fehervar will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Filip Vasiljević has, at Fehervar, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $40.0K — a club that wants Ákos Onódi enough to be asked twice.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Fehervar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fehervar offered $43.0K; Szentlőrinc 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 Aleksandar Desančić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fehervar asked and Panathinaikos said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Nyíregyháza had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $45.0K — a club that wants Lazar Milovanović enough to be asked twice.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Fehervar have done the hard part with Kisvárda, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Krisztián Kovács and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The offer went to Szentlőrinc 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.
Fehervar asked and Lommel said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Donát Zsótér. 2‑1 against Kozármisleny, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Szeged-Csanád GA the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Fehervar will enjoy reviewing.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Gergő Kocsis delivers — 7.84
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Gergő Kocsis scored, was marked 7.84, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Panetolikos have kept their man, and Fehervar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.