There weren't any great players on view today. The last minute sub was a certain Nikolas R. Proesmans, with a name that suggests he may be part of the Duchatelets' wheelings and dealings. Apart from that the Újpest side was mainly a mixture of youth and Balkan imports, presumably to the liking of coach Nebojsa Vignjevic.
Very interesting. So what is your take (and that of the rest of Hungary) on why he has bought Ujpest in the first place? You used the word 'feeder club' in your first post, is that pretty much what everyone thinks?
Does Ujpest have a reputation for youth development?
I was trying to find out about TV revenue in Hungary. Isn't there a new deal in place with increased revenue?
And would you buy a club, any club, in Hungary? I wouldn't buy a Czech one. Rotten to the core, the national league.
what are the hungarian rules on naturalisation? I know in Belgium there more lax about it than here in the UK. Just thinking if RD's scouts found a talented teenager in Africa or south america they could spend a couple of years in belgium, get an EU passport and be able to play in the UK without a work permit.
Well Roderick Duchatelet has not pulled the plug (yet). Monday came and went, with various rumours floating around concerning rescue plans. Thursday looks like being the next crunch day in this particular saga.
Since I last wrote previous owner Sándor Tolnai has gone on the counter-attack saying that the Duchatelets knew all about his financial dealings and the state of the club when they bought the club. He's even claimed that it has been Roderick who has been underinvesting and moving money out of the club. Perhaps most interestingly for any finance guys is that Tolnai claims that a "Termination of Trust" was signed by both parties when the club was sold, which he believes proves that the Duchatelets knew exactly what they were taking on at Újpest in October 2011.
But there looks as though a solution is in sight, and a typically Hungarian one at that. Újpest FC Ltd has been taken over by a new company called Újpest 1885 Futball Ltd, who have already paid the players' wages for February. This new club will probably be re-embraced by the Újpest Torna Egylet (UTE), a typically central European sports club putting out many teams in many sports, and one which the football team once belonged too. This will mean not only that UTE could become responsible for sorting out the football club's huge debts, but that the football club will also benefit from a recently passed piece of legislation whereby the government will wipe off of the debts of some Budapest's oldest and most illustrious sports clubs (Ferencváros, Vasas, MTK, UTE, BVSC). As I say things will become clearer on Thursday.
I won't go into the politics of it all (the seedy government politicians and their disastrously clubs), but if one good thing comes out of this mess, it will be that some of my taxes will enable Roderick Duchatelet to avoid paying in the region of 4 million euros to the state, and with his clean slate he can set about grooming the young talent that may end up scoring a few goals for Charlton Athletic. After all we could do with a few.
PM Viktor Orbán famously likes football. In fact so much so that the village team he once played for, Felcsút, now plays in the Hungarian First Division under the name the Puskás Football Academy (poor Öcsi must be turning in his grave). Orbán has even got the state to build a new stadium for the club at the end of his garden. It's no ordinary stadium, it is an architect-designed pile in an Arts and Crafts style. Meanwhile his cronies are running clubs and building new stadiums in massive state-financed projects as if there was no tomorrow. Mr Kosa will be opening his 20,000+ stadium (average attendance 7,000) in Debrecen just before the April election, Győri ETO already have their empty concrete bunker, and then there is the holiest of holiest to look forward to: the new Ferencváros Stadium, a gift from the Hungarian state to some of the vilest, most racist football fans in the world.
The school I teach at, which has 800 boys learning to be computer programers and mechanical and electrical engineers, doesn't even have a football pitch.
@hungaroaddick thanks for the input. As I do, I "Like" valuable contributions to the Forum and not things I necessarily agree with! I've "Liked" your post not because I support what's going on there, nor the line about financing players that may eventually end up at Charlton—at your expense—but because it's informative and enlightening to how this network is working in practice. Thanks for the input and hopefully things will work out for the Ujpest supporters.
As above. Essential reading for all of us trying to understand the RD network.
In the 90s Hungary generally was the shining star of Central Europe, always one step ahead of CZ. Things are not great here, but when I read your posts about the politics-football stuff, well.
The thing is, I'm still not any wiser why RD wants to own Ujpest, or any club in Hungary. Do you think the new TV deal makes it potentially profitable?
Hungaro, a tad off topic but do you recall the team Dunankyar Vac FC, now Vac FC I believe. Their former owner locking them out of their own stadium and holding the keys, threatening to fold them and all sorts, was this high profile in Hungary? I highly doubt it, as they weren't a huge team, but that was as corrupt as it gets owner wise. Hungarian Football and politics is crazy, it does make you wonder why the Dutchatalets have chosen Ujpest.
Interesting article and thread on Ujpest. The only reason I can see for the purchase of the club by RD is as part of a scouting network. One or two fantastic discoveries could easily pay for the whole Upjest enterprise.
It would be great if RD financed a football pitch at your school. Maybe good for RDs Micro electronic interests as well. No idea if your school is anywhere near Ujpest. Perhaps, worth a letter.
If, as somebody mentioned above, the TV deal is worth €3.5m per club/season, this alone could be enough for RD to feel he will turn a profit.
Hungary and the Czech Republic have very similar economies and wages generally. As regards footie, I think Hungary and its leagues are if anything a bit weaker than Czech's. A couple of years ago I managed to find out that the total wage bill of Viktoria Plzen - playing that season in the UCL - was around €2.2m. It is reasonable then to suppose that Ujpest's is lower than that. So the TV deal could already cover all his costs and more.
I am less sure it's about player development because I can't think of any Hungarian players at all currently making an impact in Europe (But @Hungaroaddick probably will correct me). Of course if he manages both, he's turning a profit. And in itself, what's not to like? So long as he doesnt get whacked for a huge tax bill, of course.
Stilladdicted, you have successfully uncovered Tolnai's statement to the media to which the articles I myself read referred. To this he has added an interview made with Roderick Duchatelet in October 2011 at around the time of the take-over, which Tolnai uses to back up his thesis that the Duchatelets knew everything.
In addition to what I have already mentioned your transcript adds some very important points: Firstly Roland Duchatelet has had business dealings with Újpest going back to 2006, when he acquired a forty-something per cent share holding. Roderick was only brought into the equation when the Duchatelets had an over 90% share in the club in 2011. Tolnai suggests that Roderick was only given Újpest to prevent the Duchatelets falling foul of UEFA legislation concerning the owning of two clubs should both Standard Liége and Újpest both qualify for Europe. The picture given is that Roderick was introduced to Tolnai by his father in 2011 as something of old and trusted business partner.
Secondly, Tolnai accuses Roland Duchatelet of moving money out of the club to his own offshore companies between 2006 and 2011, when he didn't have a controlling stake in the club. In doing so Tolnai claims that he himself was doing exactly same as the Duchatelets, and can therefore not be accused of being the "lowest of the low" which is more or less what Roderick called him on Friday.
Thirdly, on getting control of Újpest in 2011 it is clear that Roderick had given himself a very clear time frame (four years) for getting the club into Europe. The implication being that it was in Europe that the Duchatelets wanted to make their money. Yesterday Roderick told the media that he would be staying at the club for another three years.
Fourthly, Tolnai claims that Roderick was playing to the galleries at the press conference last Friday, and that his tears were of the crocodile variety.
One additional point in the interview with Roderick Duchatelet (I think it was there I read it) is that he makes a point of stressing that Újpest are a great club, with a long and noble history, and that they will be handled as a club in their own right, not as a feeder club for Standard Liége.
Hungaro, a tad off topic but do you recall the team Dunankyar Vac FC, now Vac FC I believe. Their former owner locking them out of their own stadium and holding the keys, threatening to fold them and all sorts, was this high profile in Hungary? I highly doubt it, as they weren't a huge team, but that was as corrupt as it gets owner wise. Hungarian Football and politics is crazy, it does make you wonder why the Dutchatalets have chosen Ujpest.
Atletico, you have hit upon another gem of a story, which is another cautionary tale. Unfortunately for Roderick Duchatelet it happened at the exactly the same time he slowly became entangled in Újpest's financial problems.
Hopefully I will get the events in the right order.
In the late eighties Vác (pronounced Vaats), a sleeply little town on the Danube Bend, had a team in the Hungarian First Division. Their golden era was the mid-nineties when manager János Csank won them the championship and got them into Europe. His down-to-earth training methods and motivation skills soon got him the job manager of the national team. Amazingly he got a very ordinary Hungarian side into the play-offs for the 1998 World Cup, where they were totally humiliated 12-1 on aggregate by an excellent Yugoslavian team (of the Deyan Savicevic era). The whole nation turned on poor Csank and he was made of figure of ridicule somewhat on the lines of GrahamTaylor.
Without Csank Vác went into decline. Relegation followed and it was about three years ago (?) that the lockouts occurred. Fortunately for Vác they had a Roderick Duchatelet of their own, an Everton-supporting maker of plastic window frames, John Marshall. If I'm not mistaken it was Marshall who put up the money to end the lockouts. I think Marshall is also interested in property, which may be an issue in Vác.
Marshall's story runs into my own when he decided to buy FC Eger. Eger's flirtation with football makes the Újpest mess look like a walk in the park. How Marshall even considered buying the club is a complete mystery to anybody with a bit of local knowledge. The only thing that would make sense was that somebody made Marshall a very generous and insincere offer. In the first instance a property speculator probably, followed by the local politicians.
In a tale which is almost identical to that at Újpest, Marshall found himself expected to pay off all the debts left by the previous owners. When he didn't, the town council refused to build him the floodlights and the toilets the club's ground needed to play in the Hungarian First Division following an amazing promotion under the previous owners.
Some how last season Eger made it to the end of the season (just), playing all their home games at grounds all over the country (Vasas's ground in Budapest, Debrecen and Vác /Marshall's other club/). In Debrecen, FC Eger played their first division matches against Pápa and MTK Budapest in front of crowds of less than 50.
Marshall jumped ship at the end of the season, Eger went bust (I think, who knows?) and now have a junior team playing in a regional league.
Fortunately for Marshall I think he got out of Eger before too many papers were signed, and as far as I know he is still concentrating on bringing the good times back to Vác.
And then there's the sorry tale of Sheffield United owner Kevin McCabe and his brief ownership of Ferencváros,..
But I think you may rather enjoy that one. Perhaps we can leave that particular saga for another day...
That's incredible, very interesting. It really does make you wonder why these people are investing in football teams of this country, John Marshall sounds like a Craig Whyte type of character. Perhaps theres nothing sinister in Roderick and theyve been shot in the foot with their investment but you would think prior to investing in a country ripe with dodgy dealings in this sport, the first thing would be to check hidden debts and so on. Intrigued to see what occurs of this one, I see Ujpest played a friendly and won the other day, not affected by the off field antics as of yet
Holy shit! I just go to check on the latest Duchatelet developments, and what do I discover, Újpest Dózsa legend András Törőcsik (58) is in a coma having fallen over after yet another spot of hard partying.
Hungaroaddick - Sad news. Torocsik was a very good player but he really should have played at a much better level than the Hungarian 1st Division. Clearly something wasn't quite there.
I mentioned previously about my Hungarian "pedigree" and how my Dad would tell me how great the Magyars were in the 50's. Sadly, despite the fact that Puskas was best friends with my Godfather, Jeno Boscovics, an eminent Hungarian journalist, I never got to meet The Galloping Major.
I did, however, as an eight year old, have the pleasure of spending the day with Florian Albert in 1968. We all had lunch together and then Albert took me for a tour round the Nep Stadium.
The Hungarians went from being one of the greatest footballing Nations to one of ridicule in a relatively short period of time and Albert was probably the last of the really stand out players. All they cling to now is snippets on TV of the likes of Zoltan Gera (when he's not injured) in the Premier League.
Mind you, we'd have him down the Valley before you could say "Üdvözöljük, hogy vagy". That's easy for you to say ;-)
but you would think prior to investing in a country ripe with dodgy dealings in this sport, the first thing would be to check hidden debts and so on.
Exactly, and it worries me that RD did not do that. After all it is not just in sport where there are dodgy dealings in these countries. He also bought CAFC very quickly...
Hungaroaddick - Sad news. Torocsik was a very good player but he really should have played at a much better level than the Hungarian 1st Division. Clearly something wasn't quite there.
I mentioned previously about my Hungarian "pedigree" and how my Dad would tell me how great the Magyars were in the 50's. Sadly, despite the fact that Puskas was best friends with my Godfather, Jeno Boscovics, an eminent Hungarian journalist, I never got to meet The Galloping Major.
I did, however, as an eight year old, have the pleasure of spending the day with Florian Albert in 1968. We all had lunch together and then Albert took me for a tour round the Nep Stadium.
The Hungarians went from being one of the greatest footballing Nations to one of ridicule in a relatively short period of time and Albert was probably the last of the really stand out players. All they cling to now is snippets on TV of the likes of Zoltan Gera (when he's not injured) in the Premier League.
Mind you, we'd have him down the Valley before you could say "Üdvözöljük, hogy vagy". That's easy for you to say ;-)
Addick Addict - I've been boring you all for too long with the ridicule to which you refer. Let's hear some more of your childhood memories. Did you meet your Godfather's other great friend Papp Laci? Did Jenő meet up with Kenneth Wolstenholme to talk about that run Flori went on against the Brazilians in the 1966 World Cup?
How did Wolstenholme describe him? It was something amazing that I should have written down and memorized.
The country ground to halt when the Albert Florián died.
Even our local paper had an obituary for your Godfather when he passed away.
hungaroaddick - you've reduced me to tears because I didn't even know that Jeno had passed away.
The connection between Jeno and my father was that they were both junior reporters at the same Hungarian sports newspaper before my father fled in 1956 from the uprising to come here. Over the years contact between the two of them became less and less but, some nine years ago, I succeeded in tracking Jeno down and it so happened that it coincided with him coming to England for a sports conference.
My father and Jeno spent several days together but for me it was difficult to converse because my Hungarian is non existent and Jeno's English wasn't much better. Jeno wasn't then in good health as evidenced by his involuntary shaking (believe it was Parkinsons) and there was an acceptance between my Dad and Jeno that that would be the last time they would meet.
So my memories of Jeno are limited. I actually only met him less than a dozen times and most of those were in the first ten years of my life. Jeno did indeed have Laszlo Papp as one of his best friends and he sent me a photo of him some 50 years ago duly autographed for my benefit. My Dad did tell me that he was on first name terms with many great sportsmen and despite the language barrier that included the likes of Bobby Charlton.
My understanding is that Jeno's main sports were connected to the Olympics and specifically Boxing and latterly weightlifting. The penultimate time I saw Jeno in this country was as far back as the mid '70s when he asked my Dad to act as interpreter for the Hungarian amateur boxing team who came over to fight a GB team that included one Charlie Magri amongst others.
I also understand (though I have never been able to find anything concrete to evidence it - probably due to the language barrier) that Jeno was inducted into some sort of Hungarian sporting Hall Of Fame. And that it was extremely rare for anyone other than a sportsman to receive this accolade.
Very sad for me because I feel as if I should have known Jeno better than I did. Circumstances unfortunately dictated otherwise, one of them being that my Dad virtually denounced his country of birth because it held too many bad memories for him. Run by a regime that forced him to flee and one that he blamed for ultimately causing his brother, a well known broadcaster, to commit suicide. So much so that if Hungary were playing England at football, for example, he would cheer England on. Whereas I always wanted Hungary to do well (not necessarily to beat England that is).
If you have any link for an article on Jeno that would be fantastic because it might, albeit momentarily, jog my Dad's memory.
Extremely grateful for the info to date and for breaking the news, however sad. I really didn't know. To everyone else having to read this my sincere apologies if I've taken this thread off track.
hungaroaddick - you've reduced me to tears because I didn't even know that Jeno had passed away.
The connection between Jeno and my father was that they were both junior reporters at the same Hungarian sports newspaper before my father fled in 1956 from the uprising to come here. Over the years contact between the two of them became less and less but, some nine years ago, I succeeded in tracking Jeno down and it so happened that it coincided with him coming to England for a sports conference.
My father and Jeno spent several days together but for me it was difficult to converse because my Hungarian is non existent and Jeno's English wasn't much better. Jeno wasn't then in good health as evidenced by his involuntary shaking (believe it was Parkinsons) and there was an acceptance between my Dad and Jeno that that would be the last time they would meet.
So my memories of Jeno are limited. I actually only met him less than a dozen times and most of those were in the first ten years of my life. Jeno did indeed have Laszlo Papp as one of his best friends and he sent me a photo of him some 50 years ago duly autographed for my benefit. My Dad did tell me that he was on first name terms with many great sportsmen and despite the language barrier that included the likes of Bobby Charlton.
My understanding is that Jeno's main sports were connected to the Olympics and specifically Boxing and latterly weightlifting. The penultimate time I saw Jeno in this country was as far back as the mid '70s when he asked my Dad to act as interpreter for the Hungarian amateur boxing team who came over to fight a GB team that included one Charlie Magri amongst others.
I also understand (though I have never been able to find anything concrete to evidence it - probably due to the language barrier) that Jeno was inducted into some sort of Hungarian sporting Hall Of Fame. And that it was extremely rare for anyone other than a sportsman to receive this accolade.
Very sad for me because I feel as if I should have known Jeno better than I did. Circumstances unfortunately dictated otherwise, one of them being that my Dad virtually denounced his country of birth because it held too many bad memories for him. Run by a regime that forced him to flee and one that he blamed for ultimately causing his brother, a well known broadcaster, to commit suicide. So much so that if Hungary were playing England at football, for example, he would cheer England on. Whereas I always wanted Hungary to do well (not necessarily to beat England that is).
If you have any link for an article on Jeno that would be fantastic because it might, albeit momentarily, jog my Dad's memory.
Extremely grateful for the info to date and for breaking the news, however sad. I really didn't know. To everyone else having to read this my sincere apologies if I've taken this thread off track.
If you type in Jenő's name on Google, you will find page after page of birthday greetings and obituaries. It's like all those kisses at the end of Cinema Paradiso. Page after page...
I'll select a few for your Dad this evening. One of them has a photo of your godfather, Puskás, Grocsis and Buzánszky enjoying a beer together.
Thanks hungaroaddick. I have done that previously loads of time but, as per example below, the search comes up with virtually nothing. Can only assume that Google limits the results according to where the search is being made and in this instance is looking to re-produce articles in English:
Comments
"If this is the end of Újpest death to you too."
Two rather threatening messages from the Újpest fans to former owner Sándor Tolnai at today's match in Mezőkövesd.
The fans returned to the capital happy after a late winner on a windy day out on the Great Hungary Plain.
I didn't see Roderick Duchatelet from the terrace I was standing on.
There weren't any great players on view today. The last minute sub was a certain Nikolas R. Proesmans, with a name that suggests he may be part of the Duchatelets' wheelings and dealings. Apart from that the Újpest side was mainly a mixture of youth and Balkan imports, presumably to the liking of coach Nebojsa Vignjevic.
Very interesting. So what is your take (and that of the rest of Hungary) on why he has bought Ujpest in the first place? You used the word 'feeder club' in your first post, is that pretty much what everyone thinks?
Does Ujpest have a reputation for youth development?
I was trying to find out about TV revenue in Hungary. Isn't there a new deal in place with increased revenue?
And would you buy a club, any club, in Hungary? I wouldn't buy a Czech one. Rotten to the core, the national league.
Sadly, that was only the group game. 'Twas the final that was their undoing, which they went in to as strong favourites.
That's what they did in those days though. I'm sure, given the chance, Robin Van Persie would do exactly the same ;-)
Since I last wrote previous owner Sándor Tolnai has gone on the counter-attack saying that the Duchatelets knew all about his financial dealings and the state of the club when they bought the club. He's even claimed that it has been Roderick who has been underinvesting and moving money out of the club. Perhaps most interestingly for any finance guys is that Tolnai claims that a "Termination of Trust" was signed by both parties when the club was sold, which he believes proves that the Duchatelets knew exactly what they were taking on at Újpest in October 2011.
But there looks as though a solution is in sight, and a typically Hungarian one at that. Újpest FC Ltd has been taken over by a new company called Újpest 1885 Futball Ltd, who have already paid the players' wages for February. This new club will probably be re-embraced by the Újpest Torna Egylet (UTE), a typically central European sports club putting out many teams in many sports, and one which the football team once belonged too. This will mean not only that UTE could become responsible for sorting out the football club's huge debts, but that the football club will also benefit from a recently passed piece of legislation whereby the government will wipe off of the debts of some Budapest's oldest and most illustrious sports clubs (Ferencváros, Vasas, MTK, UTE, BVSC). As I say things will become clearer on Thursday.
I won't go into the politics of it all (the seedy government politicians and their disastrously clubs), but if one good thing comes out of this mess, it will be that some of my taxes will enable Roderick Duchatelet to avoid paying in the region of 4 million euros to the state, and with his clean slate he can set about grooming the young talent that may end up scoring a few goals for Charlton Athletic. After all we could do with a few.
PM Viktor Orbán famously likes football. In fact so much so that the village team he once played for, Felcsút, now plays in the Hungarian First Division under the name the Puskás Football Academy (poor Öcsi must be turning in his grave). Orbán has even got the state to build a new stadium for the club at the end of his garden. It's no ordinary stadium, it is an architect-designed pile in an Arts and Crafts style. Meanwhile his cronies are running clubs and building new stadiums in massive state-financed projects as if there was no tomorrow. Mr Kosa will be opening his 20,000+ stadium (average attendance 7,000) in Debrecen just before the April election, Győri ETO already have their empty concrete bunker, and then there is the holiest of holiest to look forward to: the new Ferencváros Stadium, a gift from the Hungarian state to some of the vilest, most racist football fans in the world.
The school I teach at, which has 800 boys learning to be computer programers and mechanical and electrical engineers, doesn't even have a football pitch.
Roland I was just wondering ...
In the 90s Hungary generally was the shining star of Central Europe, always one step ahead of CZ. Things are not great here, but when I read your posts about the politics-football stuff, well.
The thing is, I'm still not any wiser why RD wants to own Ujpest, or any club in Hungary. Do you think the new TV deal makes it potentially profitable?
http://www.pestiriport.hu/WebArticleShow.aspx?LN=Hungarian&AGM=Sport&AN=tolnaikozlemeny&MN=Sport
It would be great if RD financed a football pitch at your school. Maybe good for RDs Micro electronic interests as well. No idea if your school is anywhere near Ujpest. Perhaps, worth a letter.
Hungary and the Czech Republic have very similar economies and wages generally. As regards footie, I think Hungary and its leagues are if anything a bit weaker than Czech's. A couple of years ago I managed to find out that the total wage bill of Viktoria Plzen - playing that season in the UCL - was around €2.2m. It is reasonable then to suppose that Ujpest's is lower than that. So the TV deal could already cover all his costs and more.
I am less sure it's about player development because I can't think of any Hungarian players at all currently making an impact in Europe (But @Hungaroaddick probably will correct me). Of course if he manages both, he's turning a profit. And in itself, what's not to like? So long as he doesnt get whacked for a huge tax bill, of course.
In addition to what I have already mentioned your transcript adds some very important points:
Firstly Roland Duchatelet has had business dealings with Újpest going back to 2006, when he acquired a forty-something per cent share holding. Roderick was only brought into the equation when the Duchatelets had an over 90% share in the club in 2011. Tolnai suggests that Roderick was only given Újpest to prevent the Duchatelets falling foul of UEFA legislation concerning the owning of two clubs should both Standard Liége and Újpest both qualify for Europe. The picture given is that Roderick was introduced to Tolnai by his father in 2011 as something of old and trusted business partner.
Secondly, Tolnai accuses Roland Duchatelet of moving money out of the club to his own offshore companies between 2006 and 2011, when he didn't have a controlling stake in the club. In doing so Tolnai claims that he himself was doing exactly same as the Duchatelets, and can therefore not be accused of being the "lowest of the low" which is more or less what Roderick called him on Friday.
Thirdly, on getting control of Újpest in 2011 it is clear that Roderick had given himself a very clear time frame (four years) for getting the club into Europe. The implication being that it was in Europe that the Duchatelets wanted to make their money. Yesterday Roderick told the media that he would be staying at the club for another three years.
Fourthly, Tolnai claims that Roderick was playing to the galleries at the press conference last Friday, and that his tears were of the crocodile variety.
One additional point in the interview with Roderick Duchatelet (I think it was there I read it) is that he makes a point of stressing that Újpest are a great club, with a long and noble history, and that they will be handled as a club in their own right, not as a feeder club for Standard Liége.
Hopefully I will get the events in the right order.
In the late eighties Vác (pronounced Vaats), a sleeply little town on the Danube Bend, had a team in the Hungarian First Division. Their golden era was the mid-nineties when manager János Csank won them the championship and got them into Europe. His down-to-earth training methods and motivation skills soon got him the job manager of the national team. Amazingly he got a very ordinary Hungarian side into the play-offs for the 1998 World Cup, where they were totally humiliated 12-1 on aggregate by an excellent Yugoslavian team (of the Deyan Savicevic era). The whole nation turned on poor Csank and he was made of figure of ridicule somewhat on the lines of GrahamTaylor.
Without Csank Vác went into decline. Relegation followed and it was about three years ago (?) that the lockouts occurred. Fortunately for Vác they had a Roderick Duchatelet of their own, an Everton-supporting maker of plastic window frames, John Marshall. If I'm not mistaken it was Marshall who put up the money to end the lockouts. I think Marshall is also interested in property, which may be an issue in Vác.
Marshall's story runs into my own when he decided to buy FC Eger. Eger's flirtation with football makes the Újpest mess look like a walk in the park. How Marshall even considered buying the club is a complete mystery to anybody with a bit of local knowledge. The only thing that would make sense was that somebody made Marshall a very generous and insincere offer. In the first instance a property speculator probably, followed by the local politicians.
In a tale which is almost identical to that at Újpest, Marshall found himself expected to pay off all the debts left by the previous owners. When he didn't, the town council refused to build him the floodlights and the toilets the club's ground needed to play in the Hungarian First Division following an amazing promotion under the previous owners.
Some how last season Eger made it to the end of the season (just), playing all their home games at grounds all over the country (Vasas's ground in Budapest, Debrecen and Vác /Marshall's other club/). In Debrecen, FC Eger played their first division matches against Pápa and MTK Budapest in front of crowds of less than 50.
Marshall jumped ship at the end of the season, Eger went bust (I think, who knows?) and now have a junior team playing in a regional league.
Fortunately for Marshall I think he got out of Eger before too many papers were signed, and as far as I know he is still concentrating on bringing the good times back to Vác.
And then there's the sorry tale of Sheffield United owner Kevin McCabe and his brief ownership of Ferencváros,..
But I think you may rather enjoy that one. Perhaps we can leave that particular saga for another day...
Törőcsik was Hungary's George Best. Check out this cross (Törőcsik is number nine) against FC Köln:
I mentioned previously about my Hungarian "pedigree" and how my Dad would tell me how great the Magyars were in the 50's. Sadly, despite the fact that Puskas was best friends with my Godfather, Jeno Boscovics, an eminent Hungarian journalist, I never got to meet The Galloping Major.
I did, however, as an eight year old, have the pleasure of spending the day with Florian Albert in 1968. We all had lunch together and then Albert took me for a tour round the Nep Stadium.
The Hungarians went from being one of the greatest footballing Nations to one of ridicule in a relatively short period of time and Albert was probably the last of the really stand out players. All they cling to now is snippets on TV of the likes of Zoltan Gera (when he's not injured) in the Premier League.
Mind you, we'd have him down the Valley before you could say "Üdvözöljük, hogy vagy". That's easy for you to say ;-)
And then there's the sorry tale of Sheffield United owner Kevin McCabe and his brief ownership of Ferencváros,..
I for one would be interested in that one too.
Also, are you able to confirm the TV deal, in terms of what Ujpest would get per season?
@Atletico Addick
but you would think prior to investing in a country ripe with dodgy dealings in this sport, the first thing would be to check hidden debts and so on.
Exactly, and it worries me that RD did not do that. After all it is not just in sport where there are dodgy dealings in these countries. He also bought CAFC very quickly...
How did Wolstenholme describe him? It was something amazing that I should have written down and memorized.
The country ground to halt when the Albert Florián died.
Even our local paper had an obituary for your Godfather when he passed away.
"Albert, number nine, look at this player, he's a charmer." (Wolstenholme)
A charmer indeed.
The connection between Jeno and my father was that they were both junior reporters at the same Hungarian sports newspaper before my father fled in 1956 from the uprising to come here. Over the years contact between the two of them became less and less but, some nine years ago, I succeeded in tracking Jeno down and it so happened that it coincided with him coming to England for a sports conference.
My father and Jeno spent several days together but for me it was difficult to converse because my Hungarian is non existent and Jeno's English wasn't much better. Jeno wasn't then in good health as evidenced by his involuntary shaking (believe it was Parkinsons) and there was an acceptance between my Dad and Jeno that that would be the last time they would meet.
So my memories of Jeno are limited. I actually only met him less than a dozen times and most of those were in the first ten years of my life. Jeno did indeed have Laszlo Papp as one of his best friends and he sent me a photo of him some 50 years ago duly autographed for my benefit. My Dad did tell me that he was on first name terms with many great sportsmen and despite the language barrier that included the likes of Bobby Charlton.
My understanding is that Jeno's main sports were connected to the Olympics and specifically Boxing and latterly weightlifting. The penultimate time I saw Jeno in this country was as far back as the mid '70s when he asked my Dad to act as interpreter for the Hungarian amateur boxing team who came over to fight a GB team that included one Charlie Magri amongst others.
I also understand (though I have never been able to find anything concrete to evidence it - probably due to the language barrier) that Jeno was inducted into some sort of Hungarian sporting Hall Of Fame. And that it was extremely rare for anyone other than a sportsman to receive this accolade.
Very sad for me because I feel as if I should have known Jeno better than I did. Circumstances unfortunately dictated otherwise, one of them being that my Dad virtually denounced his country of birth because it held too many bad memories for him. Run by a regime that forced him to flee and one that he blamed for ultimately causing his brother, a well known broadcaster, to commit suicide. So much so that if Hungary were playing England at football, for example, he would cheer England on. Whereas I always wanted Hungary to do well (not necessarily to beat England that is).
If you have any link for an article on Jeno that would be fantastic because it might, albeit momentarily, jog my Dad's memory.
Extremely grateful for the info to date and for breaking the news, however sad. I really didn't know. To everyone else having to read this my sincere apologies if I've taken this thread off track.
I'll select a few for your Dad this evening. One of them has a photo of your godfather, Puskás, Grocsis and Buzánszky enjoying a beer together.
https://google.co.uk/search?q=jeno+boscovics&rlz=1C1CHFX_enGB508GB511&oq=jeno+boscovics&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j0.8208j0j8&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8
Anyway, that would be brilliant and I can't thank you enough.