Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ferencvaros will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ferencvaros have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Barnabás Kovács will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ferencvaros 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 Ferencvaros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Ajka have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Norbert Szendrei. The answer from Ferencvaros has not changed — yet.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Words at Ferencvaros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bersant Celina 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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Nyíregyháza scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ferencvaros will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ferencvaros 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 The request is on a desk at Ferencvaros, and it is not being withdrawn.
8 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ferencvaros can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ferencvaros will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
45 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ferencvaros have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Bersant Celina 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Nobody at Ferencvaros 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 100 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
He is going to Ujpest, the club has $1.6M 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.
Ujpest pay $1.6M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Words at Ferencvaros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bersant Celina 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.
Callum O'Dowda and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Cristhián Rivas signs something — a contract at Ferencvaros or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 108 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ferencvaros 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 Ferencvaros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Ádám Halmai has come up in conversations Ferencvaros were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
In brief
SquadWords at Ferencvaros training over how hard people work
The offer from Vojvodina for Veljko Birmančević 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ferencvaros have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Barnabás Kovács will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ferencvaros the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
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.
Nobody at Ferencvaros will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ferencvaros people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Szentlőrinc had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ferencvaros can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Fehervar for Jonathan Levi 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.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Words at Ferencvaros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bersant Celina is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Szentlőrinc waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ferencvaros is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bersant Celina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Arne Maier is on it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Diosgyor waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ferencvaros is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
Ridwan Popoola 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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words at Ferencvaros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Naby Keïta 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 no worse way to lose a footballer. Dániel Radnóti 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.
The name of Barnabás Kovács has come up in conversations Ferencvaros 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.
28 appearances and 13 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver 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 Ferencvaros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Bersant Celina is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Callum O'Dowda has his answer from Ferencvaros; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
45 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Ferencvaros had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Callum O'Dowda 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.
28 games, 13 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Ferencvaros now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ferencvaros can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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 Bersant Celina is on it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ferencvaros is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Cristhián Rivas 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 Naby Keïta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Ferencvaros 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.
4 goals in 25 games at Ajka — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Ferencvaros updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Naby Keïta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Ferencvaros 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 Veljko Birmančević signs something — a contract at Ferencvaros or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Ferencvaros that is a harder question to answer.
“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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ferencvaros will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Callum O'Dowda 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ferencvaros know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ferencvaros will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Erik Németh 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 Naby Keïta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Bersant Celina is on it.
In brief
BoardroomThe numbers do not look good at Ferencvaros
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ferencvaros will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ferencvaros is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ferencvaros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at Ferencvaros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Naby Keïta is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Zoltan Orban trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ferencvaros will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Cristhián Rivas was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Nobody at Ferencvaros 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 Veljko Birmančević signs something — a contract at Ferencvaros or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Ferencvaros could ask drops and the wages Naby Keïta can ask rise.
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.
Callum O'Dowda 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 Naby Keïta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Ferencvaros 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 Ferencvaros, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“For the first time in years I am picked because somebody wants me in the team.” Ajka suits him; the awkward conversation belongs to Ferencvaros, and the summer will force it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ferencvaros will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
30 appearances away from home and 14 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words at Ferencvaros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Naby Keïta is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Ferencvaros has been clear about where Dániel Gyollai stands, which is more than many ever get.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ferencvaros will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ferencvaros they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 Ferencvaros know 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 Ferencvaros 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 Arne Maier is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Ferencvaros. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 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 Ferencvaros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
26 appearances away from home and 11 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Naby Keïta 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.
Nobody at Ferencvaros 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 Veljko Birmančević signs something — a contract at Ferencvaros or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
5 goals in 17 games at Kecskeméti TE — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Ferencvaros updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Ferencvaros could ask drops and the wages Naby Keïta can ask rise.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ferencvaros will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Erik Németh and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every club 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Naby Keïta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
9 goals in 28 games at Fehervar — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Ferencvaros updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Nobody at Ferencvaros 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dániel Gyollai trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ferencvaros know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Ridwan Popoola 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.
14 goals in 29 games at Soroksár — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Ferencvaros updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
13 goals in 29 games at Mezőkövesd — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Ferencvaros updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Nobody at Ferencvaros 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 Ferencvaros, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“For the first time in years I am picked because somebody wants me in the team.” Mezőkövesd suits him; the awkward conversation belongs to Ferencvaros, and the summer will force it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jonathan Levi signs something — a contract at Ferencvaros or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ferencvaros is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ferencvaros 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 Naby Keïta 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.
8 goals in 26 games at Fehervar — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Ferencvaros updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ferencvaros people have started saying his name 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 Ferencvaros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
27 appearances away from home and 11 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Naby Keïta falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Veljko Birmančević signs something — a contract at Ferencvaros or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ferencvaros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Attila Gazdag has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Zoltan Lang has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Szabolcs Dibusz 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.
Boardroom12 Feb 2029
131% of the income goes out in wages at Ferencvaros
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.
11 goals in 26 games at Soroksár — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Ferencvaros updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Nobody at Ferencvaros 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 city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Ferencvaros would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
45 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The offer from Narva Trans for Miloje Jelenić 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 name of Benjámin Gólik has come up in conversations Ferencvaros were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Erik Németh 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.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Naby Keïta 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.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Nobody at Ferencvaros 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 was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Barnabás Czéh and Ferencvaros agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Naby Keïta falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is 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.
Something was said to Ádám Varga and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Kazincbarcika waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ferencvaros is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Ferencvaros, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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; Ferencvaros are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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 Veljko Birmančević is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Veljko Birmančević signs something — a contract at Ferencvaros or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ferencvaros 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 Ferencvaros is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ridwan Popoola 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.
Match13 Jan 2029
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Ferencvaros. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
42 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ferencvaros people have started saying his name in the past tense.
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.
Ridwan Popoola 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.
8.23. 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.
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Ferencvaros will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Ferencvaros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Naby Keïta 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 kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Ferencvaros had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
3 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Veljko Birmančević has his answer from Ferencvaros; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Veljko Birmančević. 2‑0 against Vasas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.14 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Umberto Bellucci on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Diosgyor will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Ferencvaros were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
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.
Cristhián Rivas was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Marked 8.29 — 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.
8.23. 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.
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.
A goalkeeper's career is counted in the games nobody scored in, and Dénes Dibusz now has 24 of them across 531 appearances. Nothing about that number was luck.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Naby Keïta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Umberto Bellucci kept it short after the 4‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
The dugoutArne Maier has become a man the manager trusts
1‑2 against Toulouse FC. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.77, and 2 involvements.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
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.
Erik Németh 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 goals in 18 games at Soroksár — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Ferencvaros updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
In brief
SquadNaby Keïta falls out with a teammate over standards
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Muhamed Tijani’s exile
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ferencvaros will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dániel Gyollai will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ferencvaros the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Callum O'Dowda 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.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Ferencvaros will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
10 goals in 17 games at Soroksár — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Ferencvaros updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout11 Dec 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.” Umberto Bellucci, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
3‑1 against Spartak Subotica, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Jonathan Levi was at the centre of the description.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ferencvaros will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Cristhián Rivas 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.
Puskas Akademia next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.10, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at Ferencvaros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Naby Keïta 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Position 2, 26 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Veljko Birmančević. 2‑1 against Ujpest, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
ETO Győr next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Umberto Bellucci on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 40 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Ridwan Popoola and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every club 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.
“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; Ferencvaros are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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 Veljko Birmančević is on it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Ujpest in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“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 Ferencvaros will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ferencvaros will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
2‑3 against Genclerbirligi, and an evening that measured the gap rather than the ninety minutes. Nothing about it was a disgrace and nothing about it was close.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
A brace, and Lenny Joseph takes the afternoon — 8.93
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lenny Joseph provided it, and the 8.93 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Barnabás Kovács scored, was marked 7.95, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dániel Gyollai will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ferencvaros the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Callum O'Dowda 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ferencvaros will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.28 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Cristhián Rivas and Ferencvaros agree another 3 years.
Cristhián Rivas 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.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Barnabás Kovács was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.28. 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.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Ádám Somogyi is the division's best young player this month
At 20 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Ferencvaros will try very hard not to make too much of it.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
0‑3. There is a level at which football is played every single week by clubs that have been doing it for fifty years, and an evening like this is what it feels like to arrive there without having done it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ferencvaros will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Nobody at Ferencvaros will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
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.” Umberto Bellucci chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ferencvaros will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Kecskeméti TE will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Ferencvaros were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Bersant Celina provided it, and the 8.42 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Callum O'Dowda 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 won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 7.40, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
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.
Position 3, 20 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.
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ferencvaros lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ferencvaros they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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 Bersant Celina is on it.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Naby Keïta 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.
Something was said to Miloje Jelenić and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Ádám Somogyi, 20, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where Ferencvaros would like this to lead.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ferencvaros know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ferencvaros lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
1‑3 away to the standard of Toulouse FC. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Ádám Somogyi, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.06
A mark of 8.06 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ferencvaros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ferencvaros lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Marked 6.85 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
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 Umberto Bellucci left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody at Ferencvaros 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.
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ferencvaros lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
2‑3 against Spartak Subotica, and an evening that measured the gap rather than the ninety minutes. Nothing about it was a disgrace and nothing about it was close.
Callum O'Dowda was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Marked 8.31 — 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.
Marked 8.09 — 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 words a physio says slowly. 52 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.” Ferencvaros have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ferencvaros they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Ferencvaros can tell you which week it ends in.
“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; Ferencvaros are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
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 Umberto Bellucci left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutCallum O'Dowda has become a man the manager trusts
The words a physio says slowly. 60 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 offer from BVSC-Zugló for Benjámin Gólik 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.
Nobody at Ferencvaros 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Naby Keïta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Veljko Birmančević signs something — a contract at Ferencvaros or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Dániel Gyollai’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Ferencvaros needing him to play as if none of it matters.
In brief
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Muhamed Tijani’s exile
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Zsombor Gruber’s exile
The words a physio says slowly. 69 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ferencvaros people have started saying his name in the past tense.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $555.7K of what Ferencvaros paid for Ágoston Bényei is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ferencvaros have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Ferencvaros close the window on a squad of their own making
11 in and 26 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Akhmat Grozny have kept their man, and Ferencvaros go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
78 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ferencvaros lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Bekescsaba had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ferencvaros people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ferencvaros can pretend not to have heard.
Ferencvaros asked and Avellino 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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The words a physio says slowly. 85 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ferencvaros have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 14 actions, 7.71, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The name of Benjámin Gólik has come up in conversations Ferencvaros were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at Ferencvaros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cadu 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Jonathan Levi at his very best
The words a physio says slowly. 96 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ferencvaros have lost him in all but the paperwork.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $88.9K of what Ferencvaros paid for Claudiu Bumba is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Puskas Akademia pay $300.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
104 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ferencvaros lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ferencvaros people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Levente Katona reports back to Ferencvaros with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ferencvaros can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
114 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ferencvaros 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. Ferencvaros have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of 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 Ferencvaros 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. Ferencvaros have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Ádám Varga had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The phone has started ringing about Bence Várkonyi again, and this time the name on the line is Kazincbarcika. Ferencvaros 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.
Callum O'Dowda 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Kozármisleny will make the call about Ádám Nagy this week. Ferencvaros have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
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.
“I watch every Ferencvaros game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Soroksár runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ajka waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ferencvaros is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Edgar Sevikyan was one of the reasons people came, and $5.6M does not replace that by itself.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ferencvaros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ferencvaros asked and Racing Genk 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 phone has started ringing about Ádám Varga again, and this time the name on the line is Wisła Płock. Ferencvaros are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at Ferencvaros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aleksandar Ćirković 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; Ferencvaros are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
In brief
BoardroomWages eat 86% of everything Ferencvaros earn
The dugoutBersant Celina has become a man the manager trusts
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ferencvaros people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ferencvaros can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from ETO Győr for Claudiu Bumba 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 interest is real enough to have reached print. Ferencvaros have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Ferencvaros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bersant Celina 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.
Ferencvaros asked and Lugano said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Olivér Nagy 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.
Ferencvaros have made the call to Soroksár. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Umberto Bellucci has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ferencvaros they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Cristhián Rivas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words at Ferencvaros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bersant Celina 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. Budafoki MTE have kept their man, and Ferencvaros go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
9 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Bekescsaba had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Boardroom26 Jun 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Ferencvaros
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The name of Bamidele Yusuf has come up in conversations Ferencvaros were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Callum O'Dowda 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.
Ferencvaros 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 Aleksandar Ćirković was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Damir Redžić is in the works
Transfer targetsA loan move for Žarko Bogdanović is in the works
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Puskas Akademia waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Ferencvaros is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The fee is $1.5M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Tiszakécske drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ridwan Popoola has just signed for Ferencvaros, 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ferencvaros 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. Sunderland have kept their man, and Ferencvaros go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The mood at Ferencvaros has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $2.4M has been paid because Arne Maier is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
The deal with Tiszakécske 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.
Everything was agreed with Soroksár and then the doctor spoke. Ferencvaros have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Ferencvaros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bersant Celina is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ferencvaros can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Edgar Sevikyan has his answer from Ferencvaros; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Olivér Nagy 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ferencvaros will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Ferencvaros people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2028
$210.0K settles it between the clubs for Luka Lazin
Soroksár have accepted the money. What Ferencvaros do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
$1.5M on the table at Tiszakécske. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Ferencvaros have gone to Bekescsaba with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ferencvaros they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Veljko Birmančević 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.
This is the season the town will measure the next twenty against. The trophy travels home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ferencvaros will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.31 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
11 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 Bersant Celina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
26 games, 4 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Ferencvaros now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ferencvaros 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 Bersant Celina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Olivér Nagy 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.
Boardroom22 May 2028
85% of the income goes out in wages at Ferencvaros
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.
Nobody at Ferencvaros 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ferencvaros know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
4 goals in 26 games at Obolon — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Ferencvaros updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Levente Katona trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ferencvaros will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Cristhián Rivas 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 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 Ferencvaros know 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 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 Ágoston Bényei has written the date down.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ferencvaros will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ferencvaros is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bersant Celina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Callum O'Dowda 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ferencvaros, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ferencvaros know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Ádám Nagy is on 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 Jonathan Okoronkwo has written the date down.
In brief
BoardroomThe Ferencvaros production line keeps running
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Ferencvaros is running low.
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.
Callum O'Dowda 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ferencvaros, and both men came out saying it was fine.
8 goals in 30 games at Soroksár — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Ferencvaros updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Muhamed Tijani has moved up 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 Ferencvaros would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Levente Katona was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Olivér Nagy 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.
Boardroom24 Apr 2028
86% of the income goes out in wages at Ferencvaros
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.
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 Jonathan Levi is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ferencvaros know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Norbert Szendrei trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ferencvaros they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bersant Celina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Ferencvaros know it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ferencvaros know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Ádám Nagy is on it.
“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.
Naby Keïta 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 Levente Katona was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8 goals in 30 games at Soroksár — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Ferencvaros updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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.
Nobody at Ferencvaros 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ferencvaros know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
Bamidele Yusuf 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.
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 at Ferencvaros 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ferencvaros 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 Ferencvaros. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The mood at Ferencvaros has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Two goals and a mark of 8.61 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.39 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
5 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.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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.
Callum O'Dowda and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
Jonathan Levi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.34. 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ferencvaros 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 Ferencvaros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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; Ferencvaros are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Ferencvaros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Levente Katona 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ferencvaros know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Muhamed Tijani trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Ferencvaros. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Callum O'Dowda and Ferencvaros agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words at Ferencvaros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bersant Celina 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 Ferencvaros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He went out to keep goal every week and came back with 1 games and 1 of them shut out. Somebody at Ferencvaros argued for this move last summer; nobody is arguing for it now.
8 goals in 29 games at Soroksár — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Ferencvaros updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“For the first time in years I am picked because somebody wants me in the team.” Soroksár suits him; the awkward conversation belongs to Ferencvaros, and the summer will force it.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Ferencvaros have no good answer.
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 Ferencvaros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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 Bamidele Yusuf has written the date down.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Gábor Szalai 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Ferencvaros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Levente Katona 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ferencvaros they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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 name of Kenan Kodro has come up in conversations Ferencvaros were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Ferencvaros know now that the thought has arrived.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ferencvaros know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“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 Ferencvaros will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
“I have watched this squad. There is more in it than the table says.” First press conference, first promise — Umberto Bellucci made the one every new manager makes, and now comes the part where it gets checked.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Zoltan Lang recited it perfectly.
The offer from ZTE for Ádám Nagy 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 deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Ferencvaros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bersant Celina 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; Ferencvaros are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“I watch every Ferencvaros game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Soroksár runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Puskas Akademia pay $7.9M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
He is going to Puskas Akademia, the club has $7.9M 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ferencvaros 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 Ferencvaros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ferencvaros asked and Bekescsaba said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Add another name to the list: Universitatea Cluj have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ádám Varga. The answer from Ferencvaros has not changed — yet.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
In brief
BoardroomWages eat 96% of everything Ferencvaros earn
The dugoutDénes Dibusz has become a man the manager trusts
The mood at Ferencvaros has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ferencvaros have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mariano Gómez signs something — a contract at Ferencvaros or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bersant Celina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
A brace, and Kenan Kodro takes the afternoon — 8.82
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kenan Kodro provided it, and the 8.82 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody 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 Ferencvaros, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ferencvaros they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Add another name to the list: Ujpest have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Lenny Joseph. The answer from Ferencvaros has not changed — yet.
Mariano Gómez 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 Bersant Celina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Mariano Gómez had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Position 11 and 19 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“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 Ferencvaros, and it is not being withdrawn.
7.77, 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.
3 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.
Mariano Gómez 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 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Two goals and a mark of 8.86 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Mariano Gómez 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Mariano Gómez 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 Bersant Celina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ferencvaros they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Ferencvaros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Levente Katona 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 player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Lenny Joseph will call it something else in private.
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.
Position 12 and 12 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ferencvaros 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 Ferencvaros this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Ferencvaros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bersant Celina 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: 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.
Mariano Gómez 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 Bersant Celina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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; Ferencvaros are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“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 Ferencvaros, and 0 appearances in 15 say he has earned the hearing.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Two goals and a mark of 9.02 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Mariano Gómez 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.
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 Veljko Birmančević is on it.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Viktor Kleinheisler could afford to be generous.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Barnabás Nagy will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ferencvaros the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Dénes Dibusz's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Viktor Kleinheisler after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer 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 Ferencvaros, 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 Ferencvaros 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 Bersant Celina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Ferencvaros will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Gábor Szalai's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Olivér Nagy has his answer from Ferencvaros; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Veljko Birmančević signs something — a contract at Ferencvaros or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 7.84 for the rest of it.
Mariano Gómez 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 have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ferencvaros can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
14 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 terraces1 Nov 2027
The mood at Ferencvaros has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ferencvaros can pretend not to have heard.
Mariano Gómez 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 Nov 2027
Words at Ferencvaros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bersant Celina 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: 17. 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 6.78, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ferencvaros they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Cristhián Rivas scored, was marked 7.95, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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 makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Ferencvaros will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Half the programme played, position 12, 6 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
In brief
The dugoutBersant Celina has become a man the manager trusts
12 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 anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Ferencvaros, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ferencvaros have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
7.86, 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.
Bersant Celina 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 8.12 — 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.
Minute 94, against Debrecen, 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.
In brief
SquadLevente Katona falls out with a teammate over standards
Mariano Gómez 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.
Boardroom11 Oct 2027
87% of the income goes out in wages at Ferencvaros
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.
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 Dénes Dibusz is on it.
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 Naby Keïta trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Debrecen in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Ferencvaros have no good answer.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Mariano Gómez 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bersant Celina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Ferencvaros know it.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 13 actions, 7.36, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ferencvaros can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ferencvaros is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Ferencvaros can tell you which week it ends in.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
Dénes Dibusz 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.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ferencvaros 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.” Ferencvaros have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ferencvaros 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 Bersant Celina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 16 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.
8 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.
Mariano Gómez 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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Ferencvaros training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bersant Celina 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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad13 Sep 2027
10 new faces, and Ferencvaros 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 dugout13 Sep 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Viktor Kleinheisler to a room that had heard them before.