Ujpest U18

Hungarian NB I U18
19 Jan 2031
Sunday
Process
233 Edition

The Ujpest Post

13 Jan 2031
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

127 days out for Artem Favorov after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ujpest will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Market

Gatis Cauna hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ujpest can pretend not to have heard.

Squad

Tempers go at Ujpest

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Squad

Péter Szappanos 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 dugout

No hiding place for Márk Dékei

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Márk Dékei, and the manager let it.

Squad

A muscle injury and 15 days out for Márk Gyetván

The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Ujpest will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.

The dugout

When it matters, Patrizio Stronati plays

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.

Market

The Noah Fenyő question follows Ujpest around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Noah Fenyő’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout

Emmanuel Samba has been promised minutes

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 Emmanuel Samba has written the date down.

In brief

Back issues
232 Edition

The Ujpest Post

6 Jan 2031
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

134 days out for Artem Favorov after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ujpest will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Squad

Aljoša Matko is named among the best

There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Ujpest will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.

The dugout

Benjámin Kárász keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ujpest may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Market

Olivér Svékus hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ujpest can pretend not to have heard.

Transfer targets

Kelvin Neijenhuis turns down Ujpest

The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Feyenoord keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.

Squad

A falling-out at Ujpest

Bence Gergényi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Ujpest count the cost of losing Balazs Orban

21 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

Transfer targets

Ujpest ask about Jakub Zieliński

A loan enquiry to Brondby: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

The dugout

When it matters, Tiago Gonçalves plays

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.

In brief

231 Edition

The Ujpest Post

30 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A fracture rules Artem Favorov out for 141 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ujpest will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

A falling-out at Ujpest

Patrizio Stronati and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Ujpest training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tiago Gonçalves 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 dugout

Aljoša Matko gets picked when it counts

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 Aljoša Matko is on it.

The dugout

Patrizio Stronati knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ujpest, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

The Patrizio Stronati story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Patrizio Stronati signs something — a contract at Ujpest or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

A door opens for Dániel Tiefenbach

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.

Market

Still no signature from Artem Favorov

5 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Ujpest could get for him.

Boardroom

The Ujpest production line keeps running

46 graduates out of an academy now rated 9 out of 20. Clubs this size survive on exactly that, and the town knows every name.

In brief

230 Edition

The Ujpest Post

23 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

The season ends: position 3 for Ujpest

The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 37 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.

Match

Ujpest are in among the leaders

Position 3 and 37 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Match

Ujpest cannot stop winning

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.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ujpest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Ujpest training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Péter Szappanos 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.

Match

Ujpest get the job done against Fehervar

A 2‑0 win over Fehervar, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings

Gleofilo was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.04. 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.

Squad

Péter Szappanos shuts the door again

10 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.

Squad

Benjámin Kárász signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Benjámin Kárász and Ujpest agree another 3 years.

In brief

229 Edition

The Ujpest Post

16 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Aljoša Matko scores twice — 8.75

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.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Aljoša Matko

17 goals and a season average of 7.47 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Match

Nobody wants to play Ujpest right now

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Ujpest

Péter Szappanos 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.

Squad

Words at Ujpest training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Match

Aljoša Matko the difference as Ujpest beat Vasas

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Aljoša Matko. 3‑1 against Vasas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Patrizio Stronati

“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.

Player ratings

Márk Dékei in the eights

A performance of 8.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Player ratings

Gleofilo beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

In brief

228 Edition

The Ujpest Post

9 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Ujpest tear Paksi apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 5‑0 against Paksi, and it could have been more.

Player ratings

Both of them Aljoša Matko's — 8.69

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.69, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

Vintage Máté Sajbán — 7.90

At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.90, and nobody on the pitch better.

Squad

Aljoša Matko is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.43 with 15 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Squad

Words at Ujpest training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Squad

Márió Zeke in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ujpest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

One of those days for Márk Dékei

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.25, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Squad

Péter Szappanos shuts the door again

9 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.

The dugout

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.” Adam Szalai, on a 5‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.

In brief

227 Edition

The Ujpest Post

2 Dec 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

The cup run ends for Ujpest

0‑1 against Vasas, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.

The dugout

Chibuike Ugochukwu: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ujpest have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Aljoša Matko is carrying Ujpest

13 goals and a season average of 7.39. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Squad

A falling-out at Ujpest

Tiago Gonçalves and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Ujpest

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Péter Szappanos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Aljoša Matko sends Ujpest past Debrecen

It finished 1‑0, and it was Aljoša Matko’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ujpest.

Player ratings

One of those days for Aljoša Matko

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.42, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Player ratings

Gleofilo runs at them all day

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.

Squad

Péter Szappanos shuts the door again

8 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.

In brief

  • The dugout The view from the dugout
  • The dugout Aljoša Matko has become a man the manager trusts
  • The dugout No hiding place for Bence Pávkovics
226 Edition

The Ujpest Post

25 Nov 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Ujpest run riot against Haladas

5‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Player ratings

A brace, and Aljoša Matko takes the afternoon — 8.56

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Aljoša Matko provided it, and the 8.56 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Player ratings

A brace, and Márk Dékei takes the afternoon — 8.38

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Márk Dékei provided it, and the 8.38 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

The dugout

Bence Pávkovics: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ujpest have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Péter Szappanos in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ujpest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

6 goals as Ujpest and Haladas go for it

Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Ujpest and Haladas, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.

Squad

Aljoša Matko is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.35 with 12 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Squad

A row about effort at Ujpest

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tiago Gonçalves was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

One of those days for Gleofilo

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.13, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

In brief

225 Edition

The Ujpest Post

18 Nov 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Aljoša Matko beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Ujpest

Márió Zeke and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

Péter Szappanos has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Ujpest 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 dugout

Patrizio Stronati knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ujpest, and both men came out saying it was fine.

The dugout

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.” Adam Szalai chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.

Squad

Another clean sheet for Péter Szappanos

7 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and Péter Szappanos has given nobody the chance.

Market

Bence Pávkovics is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Ujpest has been clear about where Bence Pávkovics stands, which is more than many ever get.

The dugout

The plan did not have a place for Patrizio Stronati

Nobody at Ujpest 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.

In brief

224 Edition

The Ujpest Post

11 Nov 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Words exchanged at Ujpest

Tiago Gonçalves 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 ratings

Bence Gergényi runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Words at Ujpest training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Péter Szappanos 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.

Squad

Aljoša Matko is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.32 with 10 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Match

Ujpest see off Bekescsaba

Three points for Ujpest, 1‑0 the final word against Bekescsaba in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Aljoša Matko

Marked 8.49 — 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 dugout

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.” Adam Szalai kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.

The dugout

When it matters, Patrizio Stronati plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

Patrizio Stronati knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ujpest, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

223 Edition

The Ujpest Post

4 Nov 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Aljoša Matko

Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Péter Szappanos stands alone

7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Squad

A falling-out at Ujpest

Péter Szappanos and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Ujpest training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Match

Ujpest come up short against Diosgyor

Diosgyor left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

Squad

Aljoša Matko is carrying Ujpest

9 goals and a season average of 7.27. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

The dugout

Adam Szalai answers for it

“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.

The dugout

Aljoša Matko gets picked when it counts

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 Aljoša Matko is on it.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Oleh Kryvoruchko

“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.

In brief

222 Edition

The Ujpest Post

28 Oct 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Krisztián Necula damages knee ligaments — 14 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.

Squad

7 saves: Péter Szappanos was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Squad

Words at Ujpest training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Ujpest

Bence Gergényi 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.

Match

Aljoša Matko sends Ujpest past Puskas Akademia

It finished 1‑0, and it was Aljoša Matko’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ujpest.

Player ratings

One of those days for Aljoša Matko

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.33, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

The dugout

Adam Szalai has his say

“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Adam Szalai on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.

The dugout

When it matters, Tiago Gonçalves plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

Patrizio Stronati left out for tactical reasons at Ujpest

The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.

In brief

221 Edition

The Ujpest Post

21 Oct 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Péter Szappanos

There were 11 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Squad

The knee: Krisztián Necula out for 21 days

21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ujpest lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

The wait goes on for Ujpest

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.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ujpest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Péter Szappanos 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.

Match

A bad afternoon for Ujpest against Ferencvaros

0‑2 to Ferencvaros, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Márk Dékei

“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 dugout

Adam Szalai faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Adam Szalai after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

The dugout

Péter Szappanos has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Ujpest 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

220 Edition

The Ujpest Post

14 Oct 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Krisztián Necula

28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ujpest lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Player ratings

Aljoša Matko beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

A falling-out at Ujpest

Péter Szappanos and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Match

Late, late show earns Ujpest a point

Minute 91, against Honved, 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.

Player ratings

Márk Dékei stands above it all

Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.81 on the card, and the Ujpest support went home talking about one name.

The dugout

Ujpest keep their word to Rostyslav Taranukha

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.

The dugout

Patrizio Stronati gets picked when it counts

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 Patrizio Stronati is on it.

Match

Honours even between Ujpest and Honved

1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.

In brief

  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • Looking ahead A test against the best for Ujpest
  • Squad Bookings catch up with Noah Fenyő
219 Edition

The Ujpest Post

7 Oct 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

The knee: Krisztián Necula out for 35 days

35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ujpest lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Aljoša Matko signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Aljoša Matko and Ujpest agree another 4 years.

Squad

Words at Ujpest training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Squad

Márió Zeke in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ujpest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Fehervar take the points off Ujpest

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Match

Halfway: Ujpest sit in position 7

14 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.

The dugout

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 Adam Szalai to a room that had heard them before.

The dugout

When it matters, Aljoša Matko plays

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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Aljoša Matko

Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief

218 Edition

The Ujpest Post

30 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Tempers go at Ujpest

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Squad

Péter Szappanos 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.

Match

Ujpest come up short against Vasas

Vasas left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

Péter Szappanos gets it from the manager

“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 dugout

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Adam Szalai to a room that had heard them before.

The dugout

Tiago Gonçalves gets picked when it counts

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 Tiago Gonçalves is on it.

Player ratings

Aljoša Matko was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 14. 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.

Player ratings

The afternoon ran through Rostyslav Taranukha

Chances created: 10. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.

Squad

The division's best last weekend was a Ujpest man

It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Aljoša Matko was the best thing in any of them.

In brief

217 Edition

The Ujpest Post

23 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Aljoša Matko leads the rout of Paksi

4‑0, and Aljoša Matko took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Ujpest tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Player ratings

Both of them Aljoša Matko's — 8.56

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.56, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Squad

Péter Szappanos in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ujpest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Ujpest

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tiago Gonçalves was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

Tiago Gonçalves in the eights

A performance of 8.35 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Player ratings

Gleofilo was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.09. 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.

Squad

Aljoša Matko is carrying Ujpest

8 goals and a season average of 7.20. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

The dugout

Adam Szalai has his say

“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Adam Szalai on a 4‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.

The dugout

When it matters, Péter Szappanos plays

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.

In brief

216 Edition

The Ujpest Post

16 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

A 2-goal lead gone for Ujpest

It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Debrecen kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Ujpest will be asked about the last half hour all week.

Squad

Péter Szappanos stands alone

7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Squad

A row about effort at Ujpest

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tiago Gonçalves was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

A falling-out at Ujpest

Emmanuel Samba and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Player ratings

One of those days for Aljoša Matko

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.41, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

The dugout

Noah Fenyő is still paying for one afternoon at Ujpest

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.

Match

Ujpest and Debrecen take a point apiece

It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

Squad

A smaller club would suit Noah Fenyő now

He has had enough of the noise. Whether Ujpest can be a quieter place for him, or whether the only cure is a move somewhere the phone-ins are gentler, is a question for the next few months.

The dugout

When it matters, Patrizio Stronati plays

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.

In brief

215 Edition

The Ujpest Post

9 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Aljoša Matko beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 32. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Péter Szappanos signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Péter Szappanos commits to Ujpest for another 2 years.

Squad

Words exchanged at Ujpest

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Ujpest

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Péter Szappanos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

A bad afternoon for Ujpest against Haladas

0‑1 to Haladas, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

The dugout

Adam Szalai answers for it

“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.

The dugout

When it matters, Aljoša Matko plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

Oleh Kryvoruchko gets it from the manager

“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 dugout

Márk Dékei knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Márk Dékei trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

214 Edition

The Ujpest Post

2 Sep 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Aljoša Matko beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 37. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Squad

Péter Szappanos stands alone

9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Boardroom

Window shuts: 12 in, 11 out at Ujpest

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 12 arrived, 11 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Squad

Péter Szappanos signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Péter Szappanos and Ujpest agree another 2 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Ujpest

Péter Szappanos 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.

Squad

Words at Ujpest training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tiago Gonçalves 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Patrizio Stronati

“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.

Match

Ujpest come up short against MTK Budapest

MTK Budapest left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

Adam Szalai faces the questions

“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Adam Szalai after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.

In brief

213 Edition

The Ujpest Post

26 Aug 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Transfer targets

No thanks: Kelvin Neijenhuis rejects the move

Ujpest had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Feyenoord, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Match

Ujpest cannot stop winning

3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.

Squad

Words at Ujpest training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Ujpest

Márió Zeke 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.

Match

Ujpest get the job done against Bekescsaba

A 1‑0 win over Bekescsaba, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Player ratings

Aljoša Matko was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.32. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

The dugout

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.” Adam Szalai, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.

The dugout

When it matters, Tiago Gonçalves plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

The form table has caught Artem Favorov

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.

In brief

212 Edition

The Ujpest Post

19 Aug 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

A brace, and Aljoša Matko takes the afternoon — 8.52

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Aljoša Matko provided it, and the 8.52 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Squad

A falling-out at Ujpest

Tiago Gonçalves and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Ujpest

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Péter Szappanos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Ujpest get the job done against Diosgyor

A 2‑0 win over Diosgyor, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Transfer targets

Ujpest ask about Kelvin Neijenhuis

A loan enquiry to Feyenoord: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

The dugout

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.” Adam Szalai kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.

The dugout

Patrizio Stronati gets picked when it counts

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 Patrizio Stronati is on it.

The dugout

Patrizio Stronati does not fit this 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.

Market

The Aljoša Matko story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Aljoša Matko signs something — a contract at Ujpest or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

211 Edition

The Ujpest Post

12 Aug 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Aljoša Matko runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 40. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Words exchanged at Ujpest

Péter Szappanos 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.

Squad

Péter Szappanos makes it 500

500 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Squad

Emmanuel Samba signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Emmanuel Samba commits to Ujpest for another 3 years.

Match

Ujpest see off Puskas Akademia

Three points for Ujpest, 1‑0 the final word against Puskas Akademia in a contest settled by the finer margins.

Player ratings

One of those days for Gleofilo

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.28, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

The dugout

No hiding place for Rostyslav Taranukha

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rostyslav Taranukha, and the manager let it.

The dugout

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.” Adam Szalai kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.

In brief

210 Edition

The Ujpest Post

5 Aug 2030
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

8 saves: Péter Szappanos was the team

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.

The dugout

Rostyslav Taranukha says Ujpest went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Market

Kristóf Csányi puts it in writing

“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 Ujpest, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

A row about effort at Ujpest

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tiago Gonçalves was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Rostyslav Taranukha signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Rostyslav Taranukha commits to Ujpest for another 2 years.

Squad

A falling-out at Ujpest

Márió Zeke and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Aljoša Matko’s goal not enough for Ujpest

Aljoša Matko scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Ferencvaros, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Player ratings

Aljoša Matko was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.17. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

The dugout

Adam Szalai answers for it

“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.

In brief

209 Edition

The Ujpest Post

29 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Transfer targets

$160.0K settles it between the clubs for Istvan Fiola

Puskas Akademia have accepted the money. What Ujpest do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.

Market

Marko Kolaković hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ujpest can pretend not to have heard.

Boardroom

A new deal for Adam Szalai

The board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.

Transfer targets

Toni Ruso is a medical away from Ujpest

The deal with Lokomotiva Zagreb 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.

Squad

Patrizio Stronati in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ujpest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Boardroom

5 academy graduates step up at Ujpest

Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.

Squad

A row about effort at Ujpest

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Péter Szappanos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Brondby tell Ujpest: Jakub Zieliński is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Market

One of our own: Zoltan Gazdag joins the Ujpest first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Zoltan Gazdag is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

In brief

208 Edition

The Ujpest Post

22 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Ujpest are in among the leaders

Position 3 and 44 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Transfer targets

Ujpest bid $880.0K for Zoárd Nagy

The offer went to Puskas Akademia 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Ujpest

Péter Szappanos and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Ujpest training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Transfer targets

Charleroi tell Ujpest: Zsombor Riba is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Transfer targets

Ujpest ask about Toni Ruso

A loan enquiry to Lokomotiva Zagreb: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

Squad

Gatis Cauna signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gatis Cauna and Ujpest agree another 4 years.

The dugout

Patrizio Stronati gets picked when it counts

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 Patrizio Stronati is on it.

The dugout

Márk Dékei knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Márk Dékei trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

207 Edition

The Ujpest Post

15 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Ujpest say no — this time

The offer from Beroe for Benjámin Kárász 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Ujpest

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tiago Gonçalves was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Genoa tell Ujpest: Adam Žulevič is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad

Márió Zeke in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ujpest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

Ujpest try to borrow Zsombor Riba

Charleroi have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

Squad

Gatis Cauna signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gatis Cauna and Ujpest agree another 4 years.

The dugout

Aljoša Matko has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Ujpest 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 dugout

Márk Dékei knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ujpest, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Squad

Péter Szappanos has company in his position

The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Péter Szappanos keeps the shirt for now, at Ujpest's convenience rather than his own.

In brief

206 Edition

The Ujpest Post

8 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Patrizio Stronati stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Patrizio Stronati and Ujpest agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Tempers go at Ujpest

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Squad

Péter Szappanos 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.

Transfer targets

Ujpest rebuffed over Danilo Monza

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Modena have kept their man, and Ujpest go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market

Beroe join the queue for Benjámin Kárász

Add another name to the list: Beroe have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Benjámin Kárász. The answer from Ujpest has not changed — yet.

Transfer targets

Ujpest ask about Adam Žulevič

A loan enquiry to Genoa: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

Boardroom

Ujpest sign 8 boys into the academy

None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.

The dugout

When it matters, Tiago Gonçalves plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

Dominik Kaczvinszki is still paying for one afternoon at Ujpest

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.

In brief

205 Edition

The Ujpest Post

1 Jul 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ujpest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A late step up for Márk Dékei

At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.

Transfer targets

Brondby tell Ujpest: Jakub Zieliński is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad

A muscle injury and 16 days out for Máté Sajbán

The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Ujpest will quote 16 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.

Squad

Dániel Tiefenbach 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 dugout

Péter Szappanos has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Ujpest 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.

Market

Patrizio Stronati linked with a move away

The name of Patrizio Stronati keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ujpest say nothing, which says plenty.

Market

Talks stall between Ujpest and Máté Sajbán

“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.

The dugout

The manager makes Márk Dékei a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Ujpest. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

In brief

204 Edition

The Ujpest Post

24 Jun 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Aljoša Matko

14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ujpest lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Match

Ujpest up to position 3

44 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.

Transfer targets

Rémy Gauthier will not be coming to Ujpest

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Paris Saint-Germain is saying, and nobody at Ujpest is enjoying the guessing.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Transfer targets

Ujpest rebuffed over Robin Mirisola

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Racing Genk have kept their man, and Ujpest go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Tempers go at Ujpest

Márió Zeke 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.

Squad

Márk Gyetván stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Márk Gyetván and Ujpest agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

The dugout

When it matters, Patrizio Stronati plays

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.

Market

The Aljoša Matko story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Aljoša Matko signs something — a contract at Ujpest or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

203 Edition

The Ujpest Post

17 Jun 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Aljoša Matko damages knee ligaments — 21 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.

Market

Ujpest turn down Ferencvaros for Noah Fenyő

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Transfer targets

Ivan Barić will not be coming to Ujpest

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Dinamo Zagreb is saying, and nobody at Ujpest is enjoying the guessing.

Squad

Noah Fenyő signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Noah Fenyő commits to Ujpest for another 5 years.

Transfer targets

Ujpest baulk at the price for Zétény Varga

Ferencvaros wanted more than $520.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Squad

Words exchanged at Ujpest

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Squad

Péter Szappanos 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.

Transfer targets

Ujpest rebuffed over Csaba Máté

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Paksi have kept their man, and Ujpest go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Transfer targets

Ujpest ask about Rémy Gauthier

A loan enquiry to Paris Saint-Germain: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

In brief

202 Edition

The Ujpest Post

10 Jun 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Aljoša Matko damages knee ligaments — 28 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.

Market

Ujpest say no — this time

The offer from Ferencvaros for Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Ivan Barić

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Ujpest have done the hard part with Dinamo Zagreb, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Transfer targets

Ujpest make their move for Zétény Varga

$520.0K on the table at Ferencvaros. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Market

As if he never left: Bence Pávkovics returns

Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Bence Pávkovics is a Ujpest player again, and the town has its story of the summer.

Squad

Peter Szoboszlai gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Peter Szoboszlai has just signed for Ujpest, and for once the answer mattered.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Squad

Bence Pávkovics signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bence Pávkovics and Ujpest agree another 3 years.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Csaba Máté is in the works

Ujpest have made the call to Paksi. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

In brief

201 Edition

The Ujpest Post

3 Jun 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Aljoša Matko out for 35 days

35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ujpest lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Ferencvaros come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Ujpest did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

Péter Szappanos in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ujpest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Ujpest training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Transfer targets

Ujpest rebuffed over Timur Stepanov

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zenit have kept their man, and Ujpest go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

The dugout

Péter Szappanos has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Ujpest 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.

Market

Patrizio Stronati linked with a move away

The name of Patrizio Stronati keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ujpest say nothing, which says plenty.

Boardroom

Ujpest can sign again

The window is open, and with it the only month of the year when a supporter’s hopes are limited by nothing but arithmetic. The board know the arithmetic; the supporters know the hopes.

The terraces

Supporters make their feelings known about Aljoša Matko

The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Ujpest would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.

In brief

200 Edition

The Ujpest Post

27 May 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

The knee: Aljoša Matko out for 42 days

42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ujpest lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

Ujpest up to position 3

44 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Ujpest

Bence Gergényi 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 dugout

When it matters, Patrizio Stronati plays

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.

Market

The Aljoša Matko story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Aljoša Matko signs something — a contract at Ujpest or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

Bertalan Kapornai has been promised minutes

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 Bertalan Kapornai has written the date down.

The dugout

Szabolcs Szalai knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ujpest, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Boardroom

The Ujpest academy earns its keep

41 graduates, from a department now rated 9 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.

In brief

199 Edition

The Ujpest Post

20 May 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Aljoša Matko damages knee ligaments — 49 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 49 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.

Market

Szabolcs Szalai is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ujpest is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Words at Ujpest training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Squad

Márió Zeke in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ujpest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Márk Dékei

“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 dugout

Aljoša Matko gets picked when it counts

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 Aljoša Matko is on it.

In brief

198 Edition

The Ujpest Post

13 May 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Aljoša Matko damages knee ligaments — 56 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 56 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Ujpest

Péter Szappanos 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.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Squad

Gergő Bodnár signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gergő Bodnár and Ujpest agree another 4 years.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Dániel Tiefenbach

“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 dugout

Tiago Gonçalves has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Ujpest 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

197 Edition

The Ujpest Post

6 May 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Ujpest

Bence Gergényi 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.

Squad

João Nunes signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” João Nunes commits to Ujpest for another 1 years.

The dugout

Péter Szappanos gets picked when it counts

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 Péter Szappanos is on it.

Squad

Gergő Bodnár moves up the pecking order

Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Ujpest than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.

Market

Patrizio Stronati linked with a move away

The name of Patrizio Stronati keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ujpest say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

196 Edition

The Ujpest Post

29 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Ujpest refuse to drop out of the race

Position 3, 44 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.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Ujpest

Márió Zeke 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 dugout

When it matters, Patrizio Stronati plays

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.

Market

The Aljoša Matko story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Aljoša Matko signs something — a contract at Ujpest or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

Oleh Kryvoruchko knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ujpest, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

195 Edition

The Ujpest Post

22 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Only the photograph left for Szabolcs Szalai

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Szabolcs Szalai will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ujpest the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Words exchanged at Ujpest

Péter Szappanos 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.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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 dugout

Márk Dékei gets it from the manager

“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 dugout

Aljoša Matko gets picked when it counts

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 Aljoša Matko is on it.

Market

Still no ink between Ujpest and Máté Sajbán

“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ujpest, another week without a signature from Máté Sajbán.

In brief

194 Edition

The Ujpest Post

15 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Squad

Bence Gergényi in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ujpest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Krisztián Necula signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Krisztián Necula commits to Ujpest for another 3 years.

The dugout

Tiago Gonçalves has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Ujpest 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 dugout

The manager has not finished forgetting Dominik Kaczvinszki'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.

Market

The Noah Fenyő question follows Ujpest around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Noah Fenyő’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

193 Edition

The Ujpest Post

8 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Words at Ujpest training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Ujpest

Márió Zeke 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.

Squad

Artem Favorov stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Artem Favorov and Ujpest agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

The dugout

When it matters, Péter Szappanos plays

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.

Market

Patrizio Stronati linked with a move away

The name of Patrizio Stronati keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ujpest say nothing, which says plenty.

Squad

Oleh Kryvoruchko remains an outsider

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 Ujpest would admit. It shows on Saturdays.

In brief

192 Edition

The Ujpest Post

1 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Ujpest are in among the leaders

Position 3 and 44 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Squad

A falling-out at Ujpest

Péter Szappanos and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Squad

Home is on Nelson Eliseche's mind

“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; Ujpest are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

The dugout

Patrizio Stronati gets picked when it counts

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 Patrizio Stronati is on it.

The dugout

Márk Dékei asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Market

Dominik Kaczvinszki is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Ujpest has been clear about where Dominik Kaczvinszki stands, which is more than many ever get.

Market

The Aljoša Matko story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Aljoša Matko signs something — a contract at Ujpest or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

The manager makes Dániel Tiefenbach a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Ujpest. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

In brief

191 Edition

The Ujpest Post

25 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Only the photograph left for Szabolcs Szalai

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Szabolcs Szalai will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ujpest the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Ujpest

Bence Gergényi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The dugout

When it matters, Aljoša Matko plays

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.

Squad

Bence Gergényi called up by his country

A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Ujpest that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.

The dugout

The manager makes Bertalan Kapornai a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Ujpest. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

In brief

190 Edition

The Ujpest Post

18 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Tempers go at Ujpest

Patrizio Stronati 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.

Squad

Words at Ujpest training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tiago Gonçalves 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Artem Favorov

“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 dugout

When it matters, Tiago Gonçalves plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

The manager has not finished forgetting Dominik Kaczvinszki'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.

Market

The Noah Fenyő question follows Ujpest around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Noah Fenyő’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

189 Edition

The Ujpest Post

11 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

The dugout

Artem Favorov keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ujpest may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Péter Szappanos in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ujpest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Squad

Ujpest count the cost of losing Szabolcs Kleinheisler

33 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

The dugout

Péter Szappanos gets picked when it counts

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 Péter Szappanos is on it.

Market

Patrizio Stronati linked with a move away

The name of Patrizio Stronati keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ujpest say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

188 Edition

The Ujpest Post

4 Mar 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Ujpest are in among the leaders

Position 3 and 44 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Squad

Dániel Tiefenbach stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Dániel Tiefenbach and Ujpest agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Words exchanged at Ujpest

Bence Gergényi 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 dugout

Márk Dékei gets it from the manager

“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 dugout

Patrizio Stronati has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Ujpest 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.

Squad

Dániel Tiefenbach moves up the pecking order

Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Ujpest than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.

Market

The Aljoša Matko story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Aljoša Matko signs something — a contract at Ujpest or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

The dugout

Oleh Kryvoruchko knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oleh Kryvoruchko trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

In brief

187 Edition

The Ujpest Post

25 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Ujpest bow out of the cup

Ferencvaros go through and Ujpest go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.

Squad

Péter Szappanos stands alone

6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Market

Only the photograph left for Szabolcs Szalai

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Szabolcs Szalai will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ujpest the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

A row about effort at Ujpest

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tiago Gonçalves was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Márió Zeke in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ujpest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Aljoša Matko

8 goals and a season average of 7.32 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Match

The run is over for Ujpest

4 matches without defeat, and then Ferencvaros. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.

The dugout

Adam Szalai answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

The dugout

Aljoša Matko gets picked when it counts

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 Aljoša Matko is on it.

In brief

186 Edition

The Ujpest Post

18 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Tempers go at Ujpest

Péter Szappanos 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.

Squad

Words at Ujpest training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Squad

Máté Sajbán signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Máté Sajbán and Ujpest agree another 1 years.

The dugout

When it matters, Tiago Gonçalves plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

The manager has not finished forgetting Dominik Kaczvinszki'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 dugout

A door opens for Benjámin Kárász

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.

In brief

185 Edition

The Ujpest Post

11 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Márk Dékei stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Márk Dékei and Ujpest agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Ujpest

Bence Gergényi 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.

Transfer targets

Ujpest rebuffed over Dani Ángel

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bolton Wanderers have kept their man, and Ujpest go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

The dugout

When it matters, Péter Szappanos plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

Márk Dékei asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

Market

Noah Fenyő linked with a move away

The name of Noah Fenyő keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ujpest say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

The manager makes Bertalan Kapornai a promise

Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Ujpest. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.

Market

Ujpest put Olivér Svékus up for sale

The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Olivér Svékus may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.

In brief

184 Edition

The Ujpest Post

4 Feb 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Ujpest up to position 3

44 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.

Boardroom

Ujpest close the window on a squad of their own making

3 in and 3 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.

Squad

Péter Szappanos signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Péter Szappanos commits to Ujpest for another 2 years.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Transfer targets

Ujpest rebuffed over Mihail Gherasimencov

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Debrecen have kept their man, and Ujpest go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Words exchanged at Ujpest

Márió Zeke 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.

Transfer targets

Ujpest try to borrow Zétény Varga

Ferencvaros have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

Transfer targets

Ujpest ask about Dani Ángel

A loan enquiry to Bolton Wanderers: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

The dugout

Patrizio Stronati gets picked when it counts

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 Patrizio Stronati is on it.

In brief

183 Edition

The Ujpest Post

28 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Szabolcs Szalai is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ujpest is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Ivan Barić rejects the move

Ujpest had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Dinamo Zagreb, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Squad

Tempers go at Ujpest

Patrizio Stronati 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.

Squad

Words at Ujpest training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Transfer targets

Ujpest rebuffed over Goran Pjaca

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Zagreb have kept their man, and Ujpest go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Nelson Eliseche wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ujpest can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

The dugout

Aljoša Matko gets picked when it counts

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 Aljoša Matko is on it.

Market

The Patrizio Stronati talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ujpest know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

A door opens for Benjámin Kárász

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.

In brief

182 Edition

The Ujpest Post

21 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

The dugout

Emmanuel Samba: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ujpest have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Nelson Eliseche hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ujpest can pretend not to have heard.

Market

Olivér Svékus is a Ujpest player again

He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.

Squad

A row about effort at Ujpest

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tiago Gonçalves was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Boardroom

Ujpest agree a free transfer for Artur Rudko

Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.

Squad

A falling-out at Ujpest

Bence Gergényi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets

Ujpest rebuffed over Sherkhan Kalmurza

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kairat have kept their man, and Ujpest go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Rostyslav Taranukha stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Rostyslav Taranukha and Ujpest agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Transfer targets

Ujpest try to borrow Ivan Barić

Dinamo Zagreb have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

In brief

181 Edition

The Ujpest Post

14 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Krisztofer Horváth sold, and an era ends

$8.7M from Ferencvaros for Krisztofer Horváth. Money is money, but the dressing room has lost the man it looked to.

The terraces

Ujpest sell a favourite for $8.7M

The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Krisztofer Horváth was one of the reasons people came, and $8.7M does not replace that by itself.

Market

Daan Maas puts it in writing

“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 Ujpest, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

A row about effort at Ujpest

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tiago Gonçalves was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Ujpest rebuffed over Dani Ángel

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bolton Wanderers have kept their man, and Ujpest go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Máté Sajbán in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ujpest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Rostyslav Taranukha signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rostyslav Taranukha and Ujpest agree another 2 years.

Transfer targets

A loan move for József Balázs is in the works

Ujpest have made the call to MTK Budapest. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

Transfer targets

Ujpest try to borrow Ognyan Vladimirov

Levski have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

In brief

180 Edition

The Ujpest Post

7 Jan 2030
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Ujpest up to position 3

44 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.

Squad

Krisztofer Horváth is named among the best

There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Ujpest will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.

Market

Dmytro Dmytriiev puts it in writing

“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 Ujpest, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Péter Szappanos in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ujpest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Market

The Krisztofer Horváth conversation is coming

Everyone has stopped pretending: Ferencvaros will make the call about Krisztofer Horváth this week. Ujpest have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Transfer targets

Ujpest try to borrow Sherkhan Kalmurza

Kairat have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Timur Stepanov is in the works

Ujpest have made the call to Zenit. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

Squad

A place in the month's best eleven for Krisztofer Horváth

Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Krisztofer Horváth has come out of that comparison in the side, and Ujpest have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.

In brief

179 Edition

The Ujpest Post

31 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Szabolcs Szalai has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ujpest they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

A falling-out at Ujpest

Krisztofer Horváth and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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 dugout

Aljoša Matko gets picked when it counts

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 Aljoša Matko is on it.

Squad

The weekend belonged to Krisztofer Horváth

Player of the week, judged against every other man in the division. A small award, and one most careers never collect.

Market

The Krisztofer Horváth story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Krisztofer Horváth signs something — a contract at Ujpest or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Squad

A wage question at Ujpest

Bence Gergényi has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.

The dugout

A door opens for Bertalan Kapornai

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.

Market

Artem Favorov runs his contract down

5 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Ujpest money.

In brief

178 Edition

The Ujpest Post

24 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Krisztofer Horváth is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.83 with 26 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Match

Ujpest run riot against Fehervar

4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Match

The season ends: position 3 for Ujpest

The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 44 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.

Squad

A day Krisztofer Horváth will not forget

3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Péter Szappanos

There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Match

Ujpest cannot stop winning

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.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Krisztofer Horváth

Marked 10.00 — 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.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Match

Ujpest settle it inside twenty minutes

2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Fehervar spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.

In brief

177 Edition

The Ujpest Post

17 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Péter Szappanos

There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Match

Ujpest make it 3 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Ujpest have 3 straight wins of it.

Squad

A falling-out at Ujpest

Péter Szappanos and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Match

Gleofilo the difference as Ujpest beat Vasas

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gleofilo. 2‑0 against Vasas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Player ratings

Aljoša Matko in the eights

A performance of 8.40 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Player ratings

One of those days for Gleofilo

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.18, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

The dugout

No hiding place for Márk Dékei

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Márk Dékei, and the manager let it.

Squad

Aljoša Matko is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.28 with 7 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

In brief

176 Edition

The Ujpest Post

10 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Krisztofer Horváth is carrying Ujpest

23 goals and a season average of 7.76. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Squad

A day Krisztofer Horváth will not forget

3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.

Match

Ujpest refuse to drop out of the race

Position 3, 38 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.

Match

9 unbeaten for Ujpest

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 9 matches without defeat is a foundation Ujpest did not have in the autumn.

Squad

Words exchanged at Ujpest

Krisztofer Horváth 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.

Match

6 goals as Ujpest and Paksi go for it

Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Ujpest and Paksi, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.

Match

Ujpest get the job done against Paksi

A 4‑2 win over Paksi, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Player ratings

Gleofilo in the eights

A performance of 8.19 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

In brief

175 Edition

The Ujpest Post

3 Dec 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Krisztofer Horváth asks to leave Ujpest

“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.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Krisztofer Horváth

20 goals and a season average of 7.68 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Squad

3 goals for Krisztofer Horváth

The match ball belongs to Krisztofer Horváth, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Match

8 unbeaten for Ujpest

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Ujpest did not have in the autumn.

Market

Only the photograph left for Szabolcs Szalai

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Szabolcs Szalai will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ujpest the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Patrizio Stronati stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Patrizio Stronati and Ujpest agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

A row about effort at Ujpest

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tiago Gonçalves was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Krisztofer Horváth the difference as Ujpest beat Debrecen

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Krisztofer Horváth. 3‑1 against Debrecen, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

The dugout

Adam Szalai: “That is the standard”

“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 3‑1, already talking about the next one.

In brief

174 Edition

The Ujpest Post

26 Nov 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Péter Szappanos is the hero from the spot

A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Péter Szappanos: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.

Match

Cup progress for Ujpest

A 1‑1 win over Honved, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?

Player ratings

Aljoša Matko runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Krisztofer Horváth in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ujpest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match

Still nobody has beaten Ujpest

The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Squad

A row about effort at Ujpest

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tiago Gonçalves was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

Benedek Katona misses from twelve yards

It was his to settle and he did not settle it. A long walk back to the halfway line, and a considerably longer week.

Squad

Home is on Nelson Eliseche's mind

“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; Ujpest are dealing with a man who wants a different country.

The dugout

When it matters, Aljoša Matko plays

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.

In brief

  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • The dugout The form table has caught João Nunes
  • The dugout No place in the plan for Aljoša Matko
173 Edition

The Ujpest Post

19 Nov 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Nobody wants to play Ujpest right now

4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.

Squad

Tempers go at Ujpest

Krisztofer Horváth 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.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Márió Zeke

Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

A row about effort at Ujpest

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tiago Gonçalves was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Gleofilo the difference as Ujpest beat MTK Budapest

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gleofilo. 2‑0 against MTK Budapest, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Aljoša Matko at his very best

Marked 8.37. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ujpest.

Squad

Aljoša Matko is carrying Ujpest

6 goals and a season average of 7.20. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

The dugout

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.” Adam Szalai, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.

The dugout

When it matters, Krisztofer Horváth plays

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.

In brief

  • The dugout A promise honoured at Ujpest
  • Squad The division's best last weekend was a Ujpest man
  • The dugout Somebody else is better right now than João Nunes
172 Edition

The Ujpest Post

12 Nov 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Ujpest run riot against Bekescsaba

3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Player ratings

Krisztofer Horváth scores twice — 9.33

Two goals and a mark of 9.33 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Krisztofer Horváth

17 goals and a season average of 7.61 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Player ratings

Aljoša Matko was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 28. 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.

Match

Nobody wants to play Ujpest right now

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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Ujpest

Krisztofer Horváth 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.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Squad

Oleh Kryvoruchko signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Oleh Kryvoruchko commits to Ujpest for another 4 years.

Player ratings

Márk Dékei was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.08. 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.

In brief

171 Edition

The Ujpest Post

5 Nov 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Aljoša Matko was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 33. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Market

Krisztofer Horváth asks to leave Ujpest

“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.

Squad

Krisztofer Horváth is carrying Ujpest

15 goals and a season average of 7.54. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Market

Only the photograph left for Szabolcs Szalai

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Szabolcs Szalai will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ujpest the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Tempers go at Ujpest

Péter Szappanos 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Ujpest

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tiago Gonçalves was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Krisztofer Horváth the difference as Ujpest beat Diosgyor

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Krisztofer Horváth. 1‑0 against Diosgyor, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Krisztofer Horváth

Marked 8.35 — 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.

Player ratings

Tiago Gonçalves in the eights

A performance of 8.04 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

In brief

  • Squad Péter Szappanos makes it 25 clean sheets
  • The dugout The manager makes an example of Márk Dékei
  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
170 Edition

The Ujpest Post

29 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Aljoša Matko runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 41. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Player ratings

Both of them Krisztofer Horváth's — 9.43

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.43, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

Noah Fenyő pops up at the right end — 7.98

7.98, 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.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Krisztofer Horváth

14 goals and a season average of 7.51 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Match

Ujpest get the job done against Puskas Akademia

A 3‑1 win over Puskas Akademia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Squad

A falling-out at Ujpest

Bence Gergényi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

The terraces

Ujpest supporters have found a favourite in Noah Fenyő

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Noah Fenyő 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.

Match

Ujpest settle it inside twenty minutes

2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Puskas Akademia spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.

In brief

169 Edition

The Ujpest Post

22 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

13 saves: Péter Szappanos was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 13 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Squad

Tempers go at Ujpest

Krisztofer Horváth 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.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Player ratings

Aljoša Matko in the eights

A performance of 8.23 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

The dugout

Aljoša Matko gets picked when it counts

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 Aljoša Matko is on it.

Match

Ujpest and Ferencvaros take a point apiece

It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

Player ratings

Krisztofer Horváth runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

Adam Szalai: “We have to be better”

“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.

The dugout

Bertalan Kapornai gets it from the manager

“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.

In brief

168 Edition

The Ujpest Post

15 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Words exchanged at Ujpest

Krisztofer Horváth 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 ratings

Aljoša Matko runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Match

Ujpest come up short against Honved

Honved left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

The dugout

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 Adam Szalai left the room before anybody could ask which.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Artem Favorov

“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 dugout

Krisztofer Horváth has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Ujpest 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.

Looking ahead

Ujpest take on the side everybody is chasing

Ferencvaros arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.

Squad

Player of the week: Krisztofer Horváth

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.

In brief

167 Edition

The Ujpest Post

8 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Both of them Krisztofer Horváth's — 9.67

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.67, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Squad

Péter Szappanos stands alone

6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.

Market

Only the photograph left for Szabolcs Szalai

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Szabolcs Szalai will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ujpest the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Krisztofer Horváth

12 goals and a season average of 7.44 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Squad

A falling-out at Ujpest

Krisztofer Horváth and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Bence Gergényi signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Bence Gergényi commits to Ujpest for another 3 years.

Match

Krisztofer Horváth sends Ujpest past Fehervar

It finished 3‑1, and it was Krisztofer Horváth’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ujpest.

Player ratings

A masterclass from Aljoša Matko

Marked 8.06 — 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.

Match

Halfway: Ujpest sit in position 5

18 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.

In brief

166 Edition

The Ujpest Post

1 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Krisztofer Horváth asks to leave Ujpest

“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.

Squad

Krisztofer Horváth in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ujpest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Ujpest

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Péter Szappanos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Krisztofer Horváth’s goal not enough for Ujpest

Krisztofer Horváth scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Vasas, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Krisztofer Horváth

10 goals and a season average of 7.33 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

The dugout

No hiding place for Péter Szappanos

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Péter Szappanos, and the manager let it.

Squad

Csanád Fehér pulls a muscle — 15 days out

The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.

The dugout

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 1‑2 Adam Szalai left the room before anybody could ask which.

The dugout

Péter Szappanos gets picked when it counts

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 Péter Szappanos is on it.

In brief

165 Edition

The Ujpest Post

24 Sep 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Both of them Krisztofer Horváth's — 9.05

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.05, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

Aljoša Matko runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

Nobody wants to play Ujpest right now

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.

Squad

Tempers go at Ujpest

Krisztofer Horváth 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Ujpest

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tiago Gonçalves was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Ujpest get the job done against Paksi

A 2‑1 win over Paksi, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Squad

Krisztofer Horváth is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.28 with 9 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Match

Ujpest hit back inside 4 minutes

Paksi held the lead for 4 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Ujpest answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.

Squad

Nelson Eliseche wants to go home

“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ujpest can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.

In brief

  • The dugout The manager’s verdict
  • The dugout Patrizio Stronati gets picked when it counts
  • The dugout Somebody else is better right now than João Nunes
164 Edition

The Ujpest Post

17 Sep 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A fracture rules Daniel Botka out for 19 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ujpest will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Player ratings

Both of them Krisztofer Horváth's — 9.39

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.39, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ujpest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Aljoša Matko

Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

Words at Ujpest training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Péter Szappanos 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.

Match

Krisztofer Horváth the difference as Ujpest beat Debrecen

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Krisztofer Horváth. 2‑1 against Debrecen, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Squad

Gleofilo reaches 200 appearances

200 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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Artem Favorov

“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 dugout

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.” Adam Szalai kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.

In brief

163 Edition

The Ujpest Post

10 Sep 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A fracture rules Daniel Botka out for 26 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ujpest will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

No mercy from Ujpest

Haladas will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Ujpest were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.

Player ratings

Aljoša Matko scores twice — 8.64

Two goals and a mark of 8.64 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.

Player ratings

Máté Sajbán, 33, rolls back the years — 7.82

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.82 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Player ratings

Dominik Kaczvinszki pops up at the right end — 7.31

7.31, 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.

Market

Only the photograph left for Szabolcs Szalai

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Szabolcs Szalai will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ujpest the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Tempers go at Ujpest

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Ujpest

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Péter Szappanos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Márk Dékei stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Márk Dékei and Ujpest agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

In brief

162 Edition

The Ujpest Post

3 Sep 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Daniel Botka breaks a bone — 33 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Krisztofer Horváth hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ujpest can pretend not to have heard.

Match

Ujpest let it slip despite Krisztofer Horváth

Krisztofer Horváth had done his part in building a 3-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and MTK Budapest were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.

Player ratings

A brace, and Krisztofer Horváth takes the afternoon — 9.32

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Krisztofer Horváth provided it, and the 9.32 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Boardroom

Ujpest close the window on a squad of their own making

16 in and 14 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.

Transfer targets

Tommaso Ebone will not be coming to Ujpest

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Frosinone is saying, and nobody at Ujpest is enjoying the guessing.

Squad

Krisztofer Horváth in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ujpest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Ujpest training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Transfer targets

HNK Rijeka tell Ujpest: Vito Kovač is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

In brief

161 Edition

The Ujpest Post

27 Aug 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

40 days out for Daniel Botka after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ujpest will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Squad

Tempers go at Ujpest

Krisztofer Horváth 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Ujpest

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tiago Gonçalves was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Ujpest rebuffed over Adrian Malovec

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Arezzo have kept their man, and Ujpest go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Match

Gleofilo sends Ujpest past Bekescsaba

It finished 2‑1, and it was Gleofilo’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ujpest.

Match

The drought breaks for Ujpest

5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Bekescsaba were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.

Player ratings

Gleofilo was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.38. 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.

Player ratings

One of those days for Aljoša Matko

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.15, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

The dugout

No hiding place for Gleofilo

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gleofilo, and the manager let it.

In brief

160 Edition

The Ujpest Post

20 Aug 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Daniel Botka breaks a bone — 48 days out

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.

The dugout

Gleofilo says Ujpest went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Match

The wait goes on for Ujpest

5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Player ratings

A defender's goal wins it for Ujpest — 7.95

1 for Bence Gergényi, marked 7.95, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.

Transfer targets

Anestis Mythou will not be coming to Ujpest

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at PAOK is saying, and nobody at Ujpest is enjoying the guessing.

Squad

Words exchanged at Ujpest

Krisztofer Horváth 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Ujpest

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tiago Gonçalves was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Krisztofer Horváth at his very best

Marked 8.62. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ujpest.

Squad

A muscle injury and 14 days out for Balazs Orban

The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Ujpest will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.

In brief

159 Edition

The Ujpest Post

13 Aug 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Aljoša Matko runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 42. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Daniel Botka breaks a bone — 56 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 56 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market

Only the photograph left for Szabolcs Szalai

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Szabolcs Szalai will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ujpest the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Transfer targets

Axel Afonso due for a Ujpest medical

Everything agreed with Modena, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Match

4 matches without a win for Ujpest

The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Ujpest are no longer polite ones.

Squad

A falling-out at Ujpest

Krisztofer Horváth and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Transfer targets

Dinamo Zagreb tell Ujpest: Goran Pjaca is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Match

Krisztofer Horváth’s goal not enough for Ujpest

Krisztofer Horváth scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Puskas Akademia, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

In brief

  • The dugout Péter Szappanos gets it from the manager
  • Player ratings Gleofilo ran the middle of the pitch — 7.10
  • The dugout The view from the dugout
158 Edition

The Ujpest Post

6 Aug 2029
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

Chastening afternoon for Ujpest

A 0‑3 beating by Ferencvaros was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.

Market

Krisztofer Horváth asks to leave Ujpest

“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 targets

Artem Somka due for a Ujpest medical

Everything agreed with Dynamo Kyiv, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Transfer targets

No thanks: Timur Stepanov rejects the move

Ujpest had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Zenit, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Squad

Krisztofer Horváth in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ujpest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Transfer targets

Ujpest rebuffed over Tommaso Ebone

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Frosinone have kept their man, and Ujpest go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Noah Fenyő makes it 100

100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.

The dugout

No hiding place for Artem Favorov

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Artem Favorov, and the manager let it.

In brief

157 Edition

The Ujpest Post

30 Jul 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Boardroom

Adam Szalai signs on for the long haul

Ujpest moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Adam Szalai, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.

Squad

A falling-out at Ujpest

Patrizio Stronati and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Real improvement from Szabolcs Szalai at Ujpest

Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Szabolcs Szalai is 17, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.

Boardroom

Graduation day at Ujpest

5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Transfer targets

Ujpest rebuffed over Medin Gashi

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. HNK Gorica have kept their man, and Ujpest go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market

Attila Bese steps up from the Ujpest academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Attila Bese has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Market

Zoltan Botka steps up from the Ujpest academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Zoltan Botka has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Market

Zoltan Kleinheisler steps up from the Ujpest academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Zoltan Kleinheisler 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.

In brief

156 Edition

The Ujpest Post

23 Jul 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Noah Fenyő is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Market

Alfie Tuck asks to leave Ujpest

“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.

Market

Tiago Gonçalves raises the bar for Ujpest

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Ujpest heard it as anything else.

Squad

Péter Szappanos in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ujpest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Ujpest

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tiago Gonçalves was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Ujpest rebuffed over Slobodan Tedić

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Moscow have kept their man, and Ujpest go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Márk Dékei has improved at 26, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

The dugout

Gleofilo gets it from the manager

“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.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Viacheslav Surkis is in the works

Ujpest have made the call to Chornomorets. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

In brief

155 Edition

The Ujpest Post

16 Jul 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Ujpest up to position 3

43 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.

Market

Only the photograph left for Szabolcs Szalai

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Szabolcs Szalai will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ujpest the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

A falling-out at Ujpest

Krisztofer Horváth and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

The step up is real for Abdulateef Yusuff

At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

Words at Ujpest training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Transfer targets

Brondby tell Ujpest: Jakub Zieliński is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad

Late improvement for Emmanuel Samba

At 28 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.

Transfer targets

Ujpest ask about Anestis Mythou

A loan enquiry to PAOK: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

The dugout

Péter Szappanos has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Ujpest 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

154 Edition

The Ujpest Post

9 Jul 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Krisztofer Horváth puts it in writing

“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 Ujpest, and it is not being withdrawn.

Transfer targets

Goran Pjaca will not be coming to Ujpest

Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Dinamo Zagreb is saying, and nobody at Ujpest is enjoying the guessing.

Squad

Péter Szappanos signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Péter Szappanos and Ujpest agree another 2 years.

Squad

Krisztofer Horváth in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ujpest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Benjámin Kárász is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.

Squad

Krisztofer Horváth has improved at 27, which nobody expected

Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.

Transfer targets

No deal for Bence Pávkovics at that price

Ujpest offered $76.0K; Vasas said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.

Transfer targets

Ujpest try to borrow Tijan Vasić

NK Celje have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

The dugout

Aljoša Matko has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Ujpest 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

153 Edition

The Ujpest Post

2 Jul 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Transfer targets

No thanks: Timur Stepanov rejects the move

Ujpest had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Zenit, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.

Squad

Péter Szappanos signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Péter Szappanos and Ujpest agree another 2 years.

Squad

Tempers go at Ujpest

Krisztofer Horváth 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.

Squad

Dmytro Dmytriiev is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Transfer targets

Ujpest rebuffed over Simone Suppa

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Renate have kept their man, and Ujpest go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Transfer targets

Ujpest try to borrow Tim Haksteeg

Feyenoord have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

Transfer targets

Ujpest ask about Goran Pjaca

A loan enquiry to Dinamo Zagreb: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

Boardroom

Intake day at the Ujpest academy

7 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.

In brief

152 Edition

The Ujpest Post

25 Jun 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Noah Fenyő is a better footballer than he was

Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.

Transfer targets

Ujpest baulk at the price for István Márk Pekár

Honved wanted more than $1.3M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Squad

Words exchanged at Ujpest

Krisztofer Horváth 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Ujpest

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tiago Gonçalves was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

Ujpest rebuffed over Medin Gashi

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. HNK Gorica have kept their man, and Ujpest go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad

Gábor Király signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gábor Király and Ujpest agree another 4 years.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Timur Stepanov is in the works

Ujpest have made the call to Zenit. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

Market

A long bet from Ujpest on Curtis Nouvi

He is 19, and nobody at Ujpest signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.

The dugout

When it matters, Patrizio Stronati plays

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.

In brief

151 Edition

The Ujpest Post

18 Jun 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

The unthinkable, invoiced: Muhamed Tijani sold

Ferencvaros arrived with $7.1M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.

Match

Ujpest refuse to drop out of the race

Position 3, 43 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.

The terraces

A $7.1M sale, and a town that did not want it

Muhamed Tijani has gone, the accounts have $7.1M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.

Transfer targets

Ujpest make their move for István Márk Pekár

$1.1M on the table at Honved. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.

Market

Szabolcs Szalai has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ujpest they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

A falling-out at Ujpest

Krisztofer Horváth and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Ujpest training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Transfer targets

NK Celje tell Ujpest: Tijan Vasić is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Transfer targets

Ujpest ask about Viacheslav Surkis

A loan enquiry to Chornomorets: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

In brief

150 Edition

The Ujpest Post

11 Jun 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Ujpest turn down Ferencvaros for Aljoša Matko

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

The terraces

Supporters turn on the $4.7M sale of Arne Maier

He is going to Ferencvaros, the club has $4.7M 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.

Market

Arne Maier moves on

Ferencvaros pay $4.7M, 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.

Market

Abdulateef Yusuff asks to leave Ujpest

“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.

Market

Tiago Gonçalves wants more than Ujpest are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Words exchanged at Ujpest

Péter Szappanos 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.

Squad

Artem Favorov stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Artem Favorov and Ujpest agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Transfer targets

Ujpest rebuffed over Jakub Zieliński

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Brondby have kept their man, and Ujpest go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

In brief

149 Edition

The Ujpest Post

4 Jun 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Arne Maier puts it in writing

“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 Ujpest, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Ferencvaros come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Ujpest did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

Krisztofer Horváth wants more than Ujpest are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Tempers go at Ujpest

Arne Maier 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.

Squad

Nelson Eliseche gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Nelson Eliseche has just signed for Ujpest, and for once the answer mattered.

Squad

Artem Favorov signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Artem Favorov commits to Ujpest for another 1 years.

Squad

A row about effort at Ujpest

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tiago Gonçalves was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Transfer targets

A loan move for Mathieu Joly is in the works

Ujpest have made the call to Paris Saint-Germain. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.

The dugout

Krisztofer Horváth has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Ujpest 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

148 Edition

The Ujpest Post

28 May 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Aljoša Matko is named among the best

There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Ujpest will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.

Squad

A falling-out at Ujpest

Krisztofer Horváth and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Ujpest training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bence Gergényi 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 dugout

Patrizio Stronati gets picked when it counts

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 Patrizio Stronati is on it.

Squad

No place for Bertalan Kapornai in the new shape

He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Ujpest are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.

Market

The Aljoša Matko talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ujpest know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

147 Edition

The Ujpest Post

21 May 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Matija Ljujić out for 32 days

32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ujpest lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

Ujpest up to position 3

43 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.

Market

Only the photograph left for Szabolcs Szalai

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Szabolcs Szalai will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ujpest the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Words exchanged at Ujpest

Krisztofer Horváth 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.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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 dugout

Arne Maier has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Ujpest 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 dugout

The manager makes an example of Márk Dékei

“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.

Market

Patrizio Stronati linked with a move away

The name of Patrizio Stronati keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ujpest say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

A door opens for Oleh Kryvoruchko

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.

In brief

146 Edition

The Ujpest Post

14 May 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Matija Ljujić damages knee ligaments — 39 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Ujpest

Krisztofer Horváth 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.

Squad

Words at Ujpest training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Squad

Gabriel Lukačević wants to go home

“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 Ujpest know it.

The dugout

Aljoša Matko has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Ujpest 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 dugout

Petar Petrović gets it from the manager

“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.

Market

The Krisztofer Horváth talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ujpest know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

Emmanuel Samba knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Emmanuel Samba trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Market

Dmytro Dmytriiev placed on the list

Ujpest have made Dmytro Dmytriiev available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.

In brief

145 Edition

The Ujpest Post

7 May 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Matija Ljujić

46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ujpest lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Market

Arne Maier puts it in writing

“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 Ujpest, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Patrizio Stronati signs on for more

“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Patrizio Stronati and Ujpest agree another 2 years.

Squad

Krisztofer Horváth in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ujpest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Ujpest training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Péter Szappanos 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.

Market

Gergő Bodnár told to find a new club

“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Gergő Bodnár has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Ujpest.

The dugout

Krisztofer Horváth gets picked when it counts

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 Krisztofer Horváth is on it.

Market

Arne Maier linked with a move away

The name of Arne Maier keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ujpest say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

Dániel Tiefenbach asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

  • Market Daan Maas placed on the list
  • The dugout The manager plants his flag on Arne Maier
  • Boardroom Ujpest keep producing them
144 Edition

The Ujpest Post

30 Apr 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Matija Ljujić out for 53 days

53 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ujpest lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

A falling-out at Ujpest

Krisztofer Horváth and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Ujpest training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tiago Gonçalves 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 dugout

Patrizio Stronati gets picked when it counts

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 Patrizio Stronati is on it.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Dávid Dombó

“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.

Market

The Aljoša Matko talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ujpest know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

143 Edition

The Ujpest Post

23 Apr 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Matija Ljujić out for 61 days

61 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ujpest lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Match

Ujpest up to position 3

43 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.

Market

Tiago Gonçalves wants more than Ujpest are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Market

Szabolcs Szalai has one foot out of the door

Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ujpest they have already started talking about him in the past tense.

Squad

Words exchanged at Ujpest

Arne Maier 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.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Squad

Chibuike Ugochukwu stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Chibuike Ugochukwu and Ujpest agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

The dugout

When it matters, Arne Maier plays

It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.

The dugout

Márk Dékei gets it from the manager

“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.

In brief

142 Edition

The Ujpest Post

16 Apr 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Matija Ljujić out for 71 days

71 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ujpest lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Krisztofer Horváth wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Ujpest hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Tempers go at Ujpest

Arne Maier 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.

Squad

Péter Szappanos 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.

Squad

Dániel Tiefenbach out for 18 days

The medical room confirms 18 days on the sidelines for Dániel Tiefenbach, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

The dugout

No hiding place for Matija Ljujić

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matija Ljujić, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Aljoša Matko has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Ujpest 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.

Market

The Krisztofer Horváth talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ujpest know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

The dugout

Máté Sajbán asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

In brief

141 Edition

The Ujpest Post

9 Apr 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Matija Ljujić out for 79 days

79 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ujpest lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Arne Maier in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ujpest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Daan Maas arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Daan Maas has, at Ujpest, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Squad

Artem Favorov signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Artem Favorov commits to Ujpest for another 1 years.

The dugout

Krisztofer Horváth gets picked when it counts

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 Krisztofer Horváth is on it.

Market

Arne Maier linked with a move away

The name of Arne Maier keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ujpest say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

Matija Ljujić knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Matija Ljujić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Market

Daan Maas joins Ujpest on a free

No fee and no drama: Daan Maas has signed at Ujpest, and the wage bill is the only line that moved.

Market

Ujpest shop where it costs nothing

Dmytro Dmytriiev signs, and the fee column stays empty. Deals like this look small in July and clever by March — or they are never mentioned again.

In brief

140 Edition

The Ujpest Post

2 Apr 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Matija Ljujić damages knee ligaments — 88 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 88 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Market

Arne Maier puts it in writing

“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 Ujpest, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Not going: Noah Fenyő stays at Ujpest

“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Kalmar FF had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.

Squad

A falling-out at Ujpest

Krisztofer Horváth and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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 dugout

When it matters, Patrizio Stronati plays

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.

Squad

A step back for Noel Asztalos at Ujpest

Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Szabolcs Szalai

“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.

Market

The Aljoša Matko talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ujpest know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

139 Edition

The Ujpest Post

26 Mar 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Matija Ljujić damages knee ligaments — 96 days out

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.

Match

Ujpest up to position 3

43 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.

Market

Szabolcs Szalai is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ujpest is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad

Words exchanged at Ujpest

Krisztofer Horváth 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.

Squad

Words at Ujpest training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Péter Szappanos 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.

Market

Kalmar FF are about to pick up the phone

A conversation is coming this week. Ujpest will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.

The dugout

Arne Maier gets picked when it counts

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.

The dugout

No hiding place for Petar Petrović

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Petar Petrović, and the manager let it.

Market

Patrizio Stronati linked with a move away

The name of Patrizio Stronati keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ujpest say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief

138 Edition

The Ujpest Post

19 Mar 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Matija Ljujić damages knee ligaments — 106 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 106 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.

Market

Kalmar FF watching Noah Fenyő

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Ujpest have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Squad

Tempers go at Ujpest

Krisztofer Horváth 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.

Squad

Tiago Gonçalves 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 dugout

Aljoša Matko has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Ujpest 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.

Market

The Krisztofer Horváth talk will not go away

Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ujpest know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.

In brief

137 Edition

The Ujpest Post

12 Mar 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Matija Ljujić out for 113 days

113 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ujpest lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Squad

Krisztofer Horváth in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ujpest this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

A row about effort at Ujpest

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Arne Maier was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

Krisztofer Horváth gets picked when it counts

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 Krisztofer Horváth is on it.

The dugout

No hiding place for Márk Dékei

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Márk Dékei, and the manager let it.

Squad

The formation has left Gabriel Lukačević behind

Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Ujpest will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.

Market

Arne Maier linked with a move away

The name of Arne Maier keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ujpest say nothing, which says plenty.

The dugout

Dániel Tiefenbach asks for a word with the manager

“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.

The dugout

A door opens for Emmanuel Samba

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.

In brief

  • Boardroom The Ujpest academy earns its keep
  • Boardroom Ujpest board back the manager
136 Edition

The Ujpest Post

5 Mar 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

The knee: Matija Ljujić out for 120 days

120 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ujpest lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.

Market

Arne Maier asks to leave Ujpest

“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.

The dugout

Máté Sajbán: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ujpest have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Market

Tiago Gonçalves raises the bar for Ujpest

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Ujpest heard it as anything else.

Squad

Tempers go at Ujpest

Tiago Gonçalves 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.

Squad

Arne Maier 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 dugout

João Nunes gets it from the manager

“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.

Squad

A step back for Artem Favorov at Ujpest

Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.

The dugout

Patrizio Stronati gets picked when it counts

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 Patrizio Stronati is on it.

In brief

135 Edition

The Ujpest Post

26 Feb 2029
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Matija Ljujić damages knee ligaments — 127 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 127 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.

Match

Ujpest bow out of the cup

Ferencvaros go through and Ujpest go home, 1‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.

The dugout

Matija Ljujić keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ujpest may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Péter Szappanos keeps Ujpest in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Match

Ujpest are in among the leaders

Position 3 and 43 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Krisztofer Horváth

18 goals and a season average of 7.48 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Market

Krisztofer Horváth wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Ujpest hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Market

Only the photograph left for Szabolcs Szalai

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Szabolcs Szalai will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ujpest the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Words exchanged at Ujpest

Krisztofer Horváth 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.

In brief

134 Edition

The Ujpest Post

19 Feb 2029
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

Matija Ljujić damages knee ligaments — 135 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 135 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Ujpest

Arne Maier 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Ujpest

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tiago Gonçalves was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Ujpest count the cost of losing Szabolcs Kleinheisler

23 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.

The dugout

Aljoša Matko has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Ujpest 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 dugout

Chibuike Ugochukwu gets it from the manager

“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.

In brief