115 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Soroksár lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 The request is on a desk at Soroksár, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nenad Nikić 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Soroksár training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gergő Pálinkás is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
Gergely Tumma 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Soroksár know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Ádám Holczer damages knee ligaments — 122 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 122 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Soroksár 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 Soroksár 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. Ujpest have kept their man, and Soroksár go back to a list with one name crossed off 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.
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. Vukota Isakovski has moved up it.
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Vukota Isakovski’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
In brief
BoardroomOpen for business: Soroksár enter the window
The dugoutThe manager makes Tamás Takács a promise
The dugoutMárk Könczey asks for a word with the manager
44Edition
The Soroksár Chronicle
31 May 2027
From our football correspondentUpbeat
Squad31 May 2027
Ádám Holczer damages knee ligaments — 131 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 131 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 kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Soroksár had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Mirsad Miraljemović 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Soroksár training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gergő Pálinkás 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nenad Nikić signs something — a contract at Soroksár or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Soroksár will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Tamás Takács a promise
Nenad Nikić 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Matija Grek 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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Tamás Takács has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutNorbert Gálfi knocks on the manager's door
Nenad Nikić 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.
The dugout17 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Gergely Tumma'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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Soroksár 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 Márk Könczey is on it.
Position 5, 46 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Tamás Takács a promise
The dugoutNorbert Gálfi knocks on the manager's door
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 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 Soroksár 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 Matija Grek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Soroksár 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.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Nenad Nikić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
Matija Grek 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Nenad Nikić signs something — a contract at Soroksár or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Soroksár will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Nenad Nikić 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.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Soroksár have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Nenad Nikić 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 Matija Grek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gergő Pálinkás trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Gergely Tumma'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.
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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Soroksár will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Nenad Nikić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Soroksár training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matija Grek is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Levente Jova is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Soroksár. 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. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Soroksár this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Vukota Isakovski has come out of that comparison in the side, and Soroksár have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Nenad Nikić 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 Matija Grek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Soroksár know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at Soroksár 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Soroksár will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Nenad Nikić 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.
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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Matija Grek 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 here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Gergely Tumma'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.
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 Márk Könczey is on it.
46 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Soroksár will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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; Soroksár are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody at Soroksár 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Soroksár will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Vukota Isakovski did not need any: 8.59, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Pierre Mounguengue is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Soroksár this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 91 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Nenad Nikić 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.
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 98 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Nenad Nikić 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.
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.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Giorgi Beridze was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.05. 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.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Dominik Nagy was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Soroksár dressing room was either.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Bekescsaba in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Soroksár will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Vukota Isakovski has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Marked 8.38. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Soroksár.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Matija Grek 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Dominik Nagy could afford to be generous.
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 Levente Jova is on it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Soroksár will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Giorgi Beridze provided it, and the 8.32 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Soroksár have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Soroksár 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 Matija Grek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Giorgi Beridze is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Soroksár will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Soroksár until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Nenad Nikić 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Soroksár will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Soroksár, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Nenad Nikić 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Soroksár training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gergő Pálinkás is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
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.
He is 19 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matija Grek was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Soroksár are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Dominik Nagy chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Successful dribbles: 36. 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Pierre Mounguengue is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Soroksár 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 Soroksár 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 Gergő Pálinkás was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Soroksár has been clear about where Ádám Vass stands, which is more than many ever get.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 61 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Vukota Isakovski did not need any: 7.76, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Nenad Nikić 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rodina have kept their man, and Soroksár go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.30, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Soroksár training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matija Grek 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Soroksár will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Nenad Nikić 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Matija Grek 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Soroksár will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Ajka will replay every second of the added time for a week.
At 18 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Dominik Nagy on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Soroksár will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Soroksár this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Soroksár training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Matija Grek 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 95. Szentlőrinc had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 91 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Vukota Isakovski did not need any: 8.29, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Nenad Nikić 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.
2‑3 to Kozármisleny, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Matija Grek 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody at Soroksár 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. 98 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Nenad Nikić 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.
He is 18 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.
Half the programme played, position 5, 23 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 107 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Vukota Isakovski did not need any: 7.70, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 18 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Soroksár will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Soroksár lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Soroksár this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Soroksár training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gergő Pálinkás 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.
Tiszakécske next, and one man in the Soroksár dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Nobody at Soroksár will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
The dugoutGyörgy Bora knocks on the manager's door
3 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
Kisvárda go through and Soroksár go home, 1‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Nenad Nikić 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 90. Kisvárda had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Soroksár lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
An order from above at Soroksár: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Nenad Nikić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Soroksár training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gergő Pálinkás is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every 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.
He is 18 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The words a physio says slowly. 38 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.
Nenad Nikić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Soroksár training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gergő Pálinkás 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.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then BVSC-Zugló scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
14 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 45 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Soroksár this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
At 38, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Dominik Nagy chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Vukota Isakovski is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Nenad Nikić 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 Gergő Pálinkás was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Nenad Nikić 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 Gergő Pálinkás was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Mezőkövesd next, and one man in the Soroksár dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
9 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Nobody at Soroksár is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Nobody at Soroksár 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.
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Soroksár lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Soroksár this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Budafoki MTE.
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.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Csákvár defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Soroksár lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Balázs Lovrencsics provided it, and the 8.86 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 Soroksár, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nenad Nikić 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 Gergő Pálinkás was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
14 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 words a physio says slowly. 33 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 deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 22 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Nenad Nikić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Soroksár are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The words a physio says slowly. 40 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A 2‑1 win over Paksi, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Csongor Lakatos, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.66
A mark of 7.66 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Soroksár can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gergő Pálinkás was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Soroksár asked and Sparta Prague said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The words a physio says slowly. 47 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Soroksár can pretend not to have heard.
The offer went to Ujpest this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Soroksár this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Puskas Akademia have kept their man, and Soroksár go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
54 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Soroksár lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer went to Astana this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Nenad Nikić 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.
Soroksár asked and Djoliba said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Soroksár will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad17 Aug 2026
12 new faces, and Soroksár 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.
Successful dribbles: 30. 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Zoltán Derekas has, at Soroksár, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The shirt still fits. Zoltán Derekas is back at Soroksár, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Nenad Nikić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Soroksár training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gergő Pálinkás 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Istvan 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Dominik Nagy 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. Akos Sallai 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Vukota Isakovski is living that version at Soroksár, and it tends to show in the first month.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Anorthosis have kept their man, and Soroksár go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Márk Bencze 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 96. Kozármisleny had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Soroksár know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Soroksár, another week without a signature from Giorgi Beridze.
Soroksár have made the call to Puskas Akademia. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.