anagain

A Closer Look At Our Squad (in 2024) One thing that I don't do enough of, that I see other authors on this forum do, is a post devoted to a thorough look at the players in my squad, by position. My lads are improving all the time...so here it is. Goalkeepers Full Backs Center Backs Defensive Midfielders/Midfielders Yes, there's been a bid for Szabs... Gonna need a new post for rest...

Pre-Season 2024/2025 - Well, Pre Europe Friendlies have been played, a summer training camp (in Zsambek, Hungary - a small town to the west of Budapest) has been attended and (some) transfers have been made. The lads are fit and are raring to go as we enter our first round in the Europa Conference League. We have drawn Dundee United of Scotland in the Second Qualifying Round. The cinch Premiership is rated 8th in Europe but I suspect that is largely based on Rangers and Celtic. Dundee United have a similar reputation to us but this certainly won't be an easy tie to start our Budapest Boys European Tour for 2024/2025. Friendlies Nothing eventful about our friendlies. Only Gyirmot took us close and I put out youngsters after having a game two days before. Benedek Barkoczi gave me hope that our striking options were good when he banged in a hatty against Honved, but the find of the summer has to be Krisztian Necula. The young man put in some great performances and has me wondering if he's competition enough for the Kovacs' on the left. Transfers - So Far You'll be looking for new names in the lists of scorers in those friendlies...but none of our acquisitions scored until I put out a team of triallists and fringe players against Budafok. As of the time of writing this I haven't signed any of those triallists. But we do have incoming. Two I have already mentioned. Bence Magocsi and Gergely Hutvagner joined us at the end of last season. We have three more new names to date, and have spent good money. Nemanja Antonov Nemanja is our new left back, signed for £350k from Ujpest. Nemanja is an attacking full back with ability in all areas. I may have to allow my left side to get forward more, but as Nemanja could fill in in the center I am sure he's happy to defend. Attila Szujó Attilla is a competent young center back whom I have sent back to Gyor for a season on loan. Attila is a fit young man who cost us £165k. With the potential the yopung Hungarian has it is money well spent. Mario Simuţ Mario is a young Romanian full back who arrives from Haladas for half a million. I had been watching Mario when Ferencvaros placed a bid. I couldn't let our rivals acquire this talent without a fight and I was dead pleased when he chose us. There is much similiarity between Mario and Adam Miknyoczki and the two will fight it out for our right full back role. That is not forgetting Patrik Poor, of course. There has since been a bid dor Miknyoczki and he wanted to speak to them. More on that when it happens. Transfers Out Most of the above are free transfers or loans, but I couldn't turn down up to £91k for Nathan Almomani. He has youth caps but I didn't foresee him breaking easily into my first team. Benedek Varju is the highest profile name there. He played a fair few games for us in my first season but struggled to break into the squad in the OTP Bank Liga. Best of luck to him. 2024/2025 OTP Bank Liga - Preview We have only been predicted to finish 7th and I wonder if that is the lack of purchase of a new striker option. Ferencevaros are clear favourites and I am surprised to see ZTE down there predicted to finish 10th. The Dream Eleven is mad eup almost entirely of Ferencvaros players. Just Stronati of Puskas and Serafimov of Fehervar represent the other teams. Kongolo and Szalai do get a mention in the key player predictions. We start the season with what could be a nice calm introduction. The first big test comes at the end of October when we face Puskas Akademia and then Ferencvaros. We welcome second favourites Fehervar a few days later. We have announced the squad numbers. We have a lot of names. I may have to trim this with some loans, but remember that we have a second team to fill too. Many of the later numbered players on this list are on the fringes of the first team squad and will play most games for MTK II. Updates Because I wrote all that before the Dundee United tie there have been some developments on the transfer front. Bad news first. I am sorry to see Adam go but he deserves his chance at what is probably a higher standard of football. Perhaps. Adam was keen to talk to Jagiellonia anyway. Who was I to stand in the way? We have trimmed the squad and have Poor and Simut at right back. It saves me doing two things too. One, I won't have to write his name again. Second, I won't have the inevitable disappointment of whomever gets least football between Simut and Adam. Alen Halilovic Alen is our new attack minded midfielder who can play across the breadth of the park but is probably best centrally or on the right. Alen is a very technical player that will provide competition to Szabo and Kovacsreti. Alen arrives on a free after being released by Debrecen. I believe we have found a real talent here and Debrecen will be gutted to lose Alen. Balint Szabo came to me the next day to express his concern that he would lose playtime. I foresaw this and told Balint that I couldn't miss an opportunity to improve the squad. He wasn't happy but he will get his chance to impress. ~~~ The draw took place for the Third Qualifying Round of the Europa Conference League and it wasn't what I wanted to see. Should we get past Dundee United we will face Rennes. ~~~ Bad timing two days before our trip to Scotland. I lost Antonov a few days prior too. Our left side is knackered...but we do have options. Final Transfer Update (Before Europe) A chance to impress for Gabor. Kabongo Kasongo I made a decision. I talked myself in to it with my analysis earlier. Having scored in the Turkish top flight I felt Kabongo the best option. He also played a good half of football in the triallist filled friendly I spoke about. The similar player was a Mauritanian named Pape Ibnou Ba and he had a stinker in the first half of that game, despite banging in a hattrick for MTK II in another friendly. Kabongo is a DR Congolese international (so hopefully he'll get on well with Kongolo). He also has the best name (I'm easily impressed...and a child ). I tried to sign the other younger striker I mentioned (option B) but his club (Sparta Prague) wanted £1.4m for a player they deemed fringe. Yes, Kasongo was option D. Option C faded from the picture. And I'll leave it there. We're in bonny Scotland now. Tomorrow we kick off.

Choice, Choices, Choices - Finding The Right Player This is a little interlude that might go some to explain why it's been a week since my last post and I'm still playing friendlies in pre-season. Age Of Wonders 4 is a part of the answer, but we won't go into that. The reality is I am stumped on a striker. It has been our biggest woe for two seasons. We create so many chances and don't take them. Last season had us top of the table on xG. We need to put our chances away. Because of the above the situation is even more pressing now. Nemeth had been somewhat reliable. Last season we had Brad Young on loan from Aston Villa. He scored a few but I never felt like he was consistent enough. Brad has gone home now and whilst he is still listed as available for loan I don't think he's the man for us. Call it intuition. So What Are Our Options? Our available strike force in the middle of pre-season is young. Zoltan and Benedek have been around the club for a while now. Zoltan scored a few last season and was named young player of the year in a clean sweep for our young stars. I don't know if he is ready to lead our line on his own though. Benedek has been banging them in for a couple of seasons now. The 18 year old scored 13 in 15 for Veszprem in the third tier in 22/23 and then banged home 16 goals for Bekescsaba in the second tier last season. Gabor signed from Karcag last summer and spent last season on loan with his former club. He scored 10 goals last season but I feel Gabor is more suited to playing behind the striker. I spoke about Bence last time out and he has signed from Bekescsaba now. He is in the MTK II team right now (to be honest I'd forgotten about him) and I think he'd benefit more from a loan back to his former club for a season in the second tier. We also have Balint, but he was rather effective behind the striker last year. So Who Is On My Radar? I'm not going to reveal names (they're spoilers) but these are the strikers I am considering. A is 31 and scored a hatty in the last friendly. I have been informed he may be a little injury prone though. He has most recently played at Ligue 2 level. B is 23 and a natural finisher. He is rated only fringe at his club and very keen to join us. Does he need a partner though? C is a player I have been watching for a while now. He is 26, so in his prime, and has good all round ability. Is he a 20 goal a season man though, or is he another that fits in to the behind the striker role? D is very similar to A bit is a little less rated by my staff (and me, if I am honest). He is 29, has a reasonable scoring record and great physicals that might help him to play alone up front. He has played in the Turkish top flight too, probably the best level of all four. There is one more option that stands out, but I do think he's a remote possibility. This lad I will spoil because I really am not sure he'd sign. It would probably not be wise to chuck a 16 year old in as our lead lone striker. Martin is rated very highly but it seems he may be a bit feisty. I really am struggling to come to a decision. Do I stick with the younguns I have? Whom of the options is the best bet? What makes a good lone front man? Does he count as a lone front man with the formation I play, that has my IF cut in and support the striker so much so that he was leading scorer? Do I change formation and have two up front (this would likely sacrifice the IF/IW combination)? If anyone wants to provide an opinion then they are more than welcome! I need to make a decision sooner rather than later though. We have Dundee United in just over a week!! But now you know the delay. I am thinking about whether I can get two of the options in. One experienced and one of the finishers. Vasvari could benefit from a loan and that would leave us with three pure front men. The agony...

Season 2023-2024 - European Round Up ...but first... We have got in early with the signings and acquired ourselves a fine young keeper. Gergely Huntvagner is a fine young keeper with huge potential and an outstanding control over his box. Gergely wants the number one jersey but may have to be prepared to fight it out with Bence Varga. We have two very good keepers on our books now. and taken a chance on a young striker from our feeder club... Bence Magocsi is 19 and scored 7 goals for Bekescsaba II in the third tier this season. Bence is a natural finisher who could do great things in the game. I am undecided as to whether he will stay here next season. I might send him to Bekescsaba as they realistically have a better chance of doing well in the second tier. Benedek Barkoczi spent this season there and got 16 goals. Bence is more of an out and out scorer, whilst Benedek is more an all rounder. They could swap places. But - back to the round up. We'll start with the continental competitions. Champions League Europa League Europa Conference League Our conquerors beaten in the final. And the leagues... England Arsenal took just four points from their last three fixtures but held on for the title. Manchester City won the FA Cup and Wolves the League Cup. La Liga Ligue Un Bundesliga Serie A Liga Portugal Eredivisie cinch Premiership Jupiler Pro League Prva Liga Merkantil Bank Liga MTK Youth Teams MTK II As you can see from the table, above, our youngsters survived the Merkantil Bank Liga season by the skin of their teeth. A Daniel Zsori hattrick enabled a 3-0 win over Dorog before Krisztian Necula got the winner over Kozarmisleny. So who were the players of the season for MTK II? Yurii Matviiv continues to impress but there is a question about whether he can ever force his way in to the first team. The same questions could be asked about Bence Varkonyi but he had a good season for the seconds. I will likely keep both about, if only for second team duty. If bids come in I would allow them to move. Krisztian Necula is a player that could do a job for the first team, and he has been on the bench quite a bit as the season closed in. Adrian Csenterics in probably the best of our young keepers and will provide cover for the coming season. I moved Krisztian Lepo to the first team later in the season to train with the full squad. There is potential here. I believe Benedek Barkoczi is a real talent and, as I mentioned earlier, he knocked in 16 goals for Bekescsaba this season. Our U19s still have games so I'll update later.

May 2024 - Wrapping Things Up For Another Year The season is over and I would say, all in all, it's been successful. We were tasked with avoiding the drop and finished third. That qualifies us for the Europa Conference League again and that fact really made things easier for the lads. After our woes of March and April, it was nice to end the season with an unbeaten month. The win over Fehervar was tight, the win over Haladas down to the performances of Mezei and Young and the ZTE win dominating...eventually. Szab's goal was a rocket. Szabs has been in and out of the team and has come to me twice to demand he start games. This was a tough ask with Fernando Medeiros in good form throughout the season, but Szabs came in for the final two games and was excellent in both. I love that Mezokovesd (predicted to be relegated) finished fourth, and qualified for Europe, with a goal difference the same as relegated Honved. That is a Honved that were predicted fourth. Call Ups Artur Horvath and Gabor Szalai were both called up for the preliminary Hungary squad for the Euros this summer. Hungary will face Austria, Germany and Switzerland in their group. OTP Bank Liga - Awards Nice representation for MTK. Well done Zoltan, Adam and Adam - a clean sweep. Budget Announcements European qualification two seasons running has prompted the board to give us some real money. Don't worry, I have some targets to spend it on. MTK Stats Highlighting our goalscorers. ...and to finish... Next... I'll catch up with the end of season across Europe later...when they've all finished. Also the Euros.

April 2024 - More Concerns...It's Getting Squeaky Bum Time April started so well for us. We destroyed Mezokovesd with some outstanding attacking football. Matyas Kovacs was not performing so well so Mate Kovacs came in to the side and played a blinder, in thanks. And that was where it stopped. Another frustrating draw against Ujpest, with two very late goals conceded. The second Ujpest goal was way beyond the time allowed and I spoke of my annoyance at that in the press conference. I wasn't fined, so it's all good. It made me feel a little better. The Honved game was another late goal. We just can not hold on and I've tried so hard to combat it. I thought we'd do better against Kisvarda. We normally do up our game against the higher ranked sides but we were woeful. It is possibly clear we need that striker who will finish for us. We have had moments where they bang the goals in but I am so often left frustrated. On the plus side, we're not conceding excessively. Then comes the last matches of April and I realise it is not just me suffering at the hands (the feet?) of those teams battling against the drop. Thank you, Ujpest and Vasas. We now have a game against Fehervar and I think it's a must win. A win surely secures us European football again. Youth Teams MTK II and MTK U19s continue to have a poor end to the season. MTK II are firmly in a relegation battle and I haven't yet renewed Igor Nitchenko's contract. His contract isn't the only one, to be fair. I have decided I need an overhaul of staff to take us to the next level. I have just three games of the season to go. I'll do a final update for the youth after they finish. Europe - It's The Final Countdown Now we know why they chose that song title. Let's have a quick look at the big battles in Europe as the 2023-2024 season draws to a close. Premier League Arsenal almost have the title wrapped up and the top four looks done. The battle is for the final European spots. Newcastle are just four points shy of United but after that there is no one in contention. It looks like Watford are down and it's possibly two from the next three. One more success from Bournemouth and Everton should see them safe. It very much looks like Brighton will go straight back up. No shocks in the Championship really. La Liga La Liga seems wrapped up too, with another title for Real Madrid. It is then incredibly tight for the European spots. The bottom of La Liga is very close too. Ligue Un It looks like another title for PSG in France and the battle for Europe is almost done too. Just a few big games for Troyes, Strasbourg, Rennes and Nantes. Bundesliga A similar story in Germany. Here, Bayern are the champions already. There are then seven teams battling for European spots. Serie A In Italy we finally find a league that is competitive. Napoli lead but both Roma and Milan have two games in hand on their rivals. Juve are having a poor season but a charge could see them in the Champions League. Monthly Performance Review I didn't get one...I guess the board want to leave me hanging... Next... Three huge games left but let's hope we can beat Fehervar and not have to have the season come down to a game against our already relegated rivals, Haladas. I won't say I am not pleased to see the side that pipped us to a title relegated. I've spoken to the team. They know we need better going in to these last three games. I wanted to add that I don't actually believe that xg table. For sure we could have scored more and have lost points by not putting away chances. I don't believe that Ferencvaros and Puskas Akademia have so many more points than they should have though. They are so much better than us and third is good for us this season. Let's just hope we can seal it. The final word from Matyas...

March 2024 - Not a Good Month We seem to be suffering from similar symptoms to those which we suffered from last season. The nerves have settled into my young squad and we are losing matches we would have dominated earlier in the season. We are finding it hard to convert our chances and are also conceding too many. We had a shocker at the back against Ujpest and then played great to beat Vasas. It's another case of complacency in matches for which we are favourites. Yes, we are out of the cup too. We had a great comeback win over Cegled only to lose a week later to a clinical Puskas Akademia. Roland Lehoczky's early red against Cegled had left us up to our necks but Nemeth came on to rescue the game for us. We now find ourselves battling for the third placed finish we thought was ours. We need to get back to our best. International RoundUp A first cap for Adam Miknyoczki who came on for the last 16 minutes of a 3-0 loss in a friendly against France. Gabor Szalai was also in the squad. There were Hungary U21 appearances for Nathaniel Alomani, Artur Horvath, Roland Lehoczky, Adam Merenyi, Mate Tuboly and Adam Vidnyanszky. It was a 1-0 loss to Spain U21s though and no one put in a great performance. Botond Herczeg had 31 minutes for Hungary U19s as they beat Greece U19s 3-1 and Lajos Kadar played 31 minutes as Hungary U18s beat Israel 2-1. Botond Radnoti, Mate Seregy and Janos Hegedus were also in the U18s squad. A few days later and Gabor Szalai joined Adam Miknyoczki on 1 cap for Hungary. The center back played 28 minutes as Spain won 2-0. Adam didn't feature. Lastly, it was again the turn of Hungary U19s and U18s. Botond Radnoti, Mate Seregy and Janos Hegedus all played 90s minutes as Hungary U18s drew 1-1 with Slovakia U18s. Hungary U19s lost 3-1 to Serbia U19s with Botond Herczeg playing 90s minutes. Youth Teams MTK II MTK II have been on a run of two months without a win and are now firmly locked in to a relegation battle. With our first team on an international break, I allowed a significant number of first teamers to play in the latest MTK II game, against relegation threatened DEAC, and they still lost 1-0. I am seriously thinking about replacing Igor Nitchenko at the end of this season. The squad of young players shouldn't be as bad as they have been. MTK U19s Our U19s were having a great season but they have now lost two of the last four and have dropped to third in their league. March Performance Review Next... With just seven games remaining we now go in to a big April in which we want to win all four games. These are teams we should be able to beat. If we want European football next year we really need to win these.

I have that desire back again, I think, but I'm going to have to change how I report this. I was doing too much and it was taking away some of the enjoyment of FM. I was just taking too long to get through matches by doing so much writing. I am going to drop the diary stuff and switch to less regular updates. Probably monthly. I even thought about stopping the write up completely but I do like posting my careers here. I've learnt a lesson though. I've often said quietly to myself that posting these careers here is something to keep me going in FM. One can go too far though. Also, my back's not perfect but just sitting back playing is not so bad. Something about the movement of excessive typing triggers something. I hope I gave whoever read the diaries of Anton Nagain some enjoyment, and even some laughs. I hope, if you've read till now, then you'll carry on following along on my journey with MTK. I am planning a visit to Budapest later this year and I hope to take in an MTK match. If it happens it'll be a nice ending to this FM career. Youth Intake Other than the above, an update on our latest youth intake is due today...and some of these players will make for me wanting to see a few more seasons. Istvan is the perfect player coming through to push Szabo in that 'behind the striker' role that has served me so well. A little worrying that he's so outspoken but huge potential on the pitch. Attila is the latest recruit to our wealth of young midfielders. His technicals could do with some work Attila has a strong head to him. Pal is the best of this year's recruits; a well rounded and media friendly young midfielder. There is some concern around how injury prone Pal might be. Balasz is an out and out winger on the left side. It's not my preferred role and I don't think Balasz will benefit from moving to the right and competing to suceed Kovacsreti. If Balasz shows his potential then the future could signal a switch to a left footed left sided player. Gergo Holman looks like a promising sweeper keeper and Lajos Ban could develop in to a quality defensive midfielder, but the other slated top talents need some work. MOL Magyar Kupa - Quarter Finals No surprises in the quarter finals. Our match at Cegled was a squeaky bum affair. It's the top four in the semi finals, and we drew Puskas.

I am sorry to say that I may just drop the secret diaries for now. I've had some fun but they are taking away from just playing the game. The time I get to play is limited enough as it is, and with the diaries of Anton I tend to spend more time writing than I do actually playing. That's not to say I won't add flourish from time to time. I'll still write manager thoughts and I like the way I do the match lead up and action. The characterisation is what takes time though. Maybe I'll even grow the match day write up, but we'll see. I'm a slow FM player but this year is the slowest I have been by far. To have not even completed two season between November and April is beyond even what I normally achieve. To be brutally honest, I do feel like I'm going through the motions a little with FM of late. I'm trying to get back that real desire. I am actually wondering if I need to just play rather than write, fullstop. Like my favourite FM YouTuber, Loki, often says, if he's not feeling it then those watching his videos probably won't either. OTP Bank Liga Matchday 23 Preview We welcome Puskas with them three points clear of us in second place and I am sure this will be a tough game that we will do well to win. Our opponents utilise a similar style of football to us but are perhaps a little wider. They have scored less goals than us but have conceded one less. Until recently the goals scored by the academy side were much lower than us but Zsolt Hornyak's side have scored 13 goals in four matches since a poor return after the winter break that saw them lose to Fehervar and Kisvarda and only manage a 1-0 win over Haladas. Ivan Saponjic is the player Puskas signed from Slovakia in the recent window and he scored four as Puskas beat Ujpest 4-0 just over a week back. Saponjic missed this weekend's 3-0 defeat of Haladas but should be back to face us. Monthly Performance Review There is still general contentment from both the board and the fans, though both are disappointed with the loss to Ferencvaros. Sinan Medgyes is displeasing the fans greatly, and in fact he hasn't started a game for a while now, fading right out of my plans. OTP Bank Liga Matchday 23 - MTK Budapest FC vs Puskas Ferenc Labdarugo Akademia It's the same team that faced ZTE for MTK, but with one or two reports of injuries midweek we asked Nagain how fitness is at the club. "There are one or two niggles. Both Fernando [Medeiros] and Roland [Lehoczky] had a slow week of training and Artur [Horvath] misses out today because of a bruised shin that has seen him miss training this week. It is the run in to the season and we have to expect these small injuries." ~~~ 22 mins: MTK have had the best of the first quarter of this game but Puskas have started to show themselves in the last few minutes, forcing a save from Varga and hitting the side netting. Balint Szabo had one glorious oppurtunity for MTK, after being put through by a lovely Kovacs ball, but the Puskas keeper made a fine save. It's anyone's game right now. ~~~ HT: MTK 0-0 Puskas It's very much even stevens at half time. MTK have perhaps had the better chances, including a goal mouth scramble right near the end of the half that somehow didn't end up a goal. Both keepers have made good saves. ~~~ 66 mins: Nearly at the three quarters mark, and MTK have a slim advantage, having had the better efforts in this half. Finishing has been a little poor from both sides though. ~~~ FT: MTK 0-0 Puskas That was another game we probably should have won. Akos Zuigeber hit the bar late on when he probably should have scored. Puskas had a few chances but were much better defensively. I am not sure why the quadruple scoring Saponjic is being left out of that side. MTK Player of the Match: This was a game in which defences had the best of it. Gabor Szalai was a rock at the heart of our defence. Four interceptions and an 83% headed clearance completion rate. Ferencvaros took advantage of our draw with Puskas Akademia by beating Fehervar 2-0 to go nine points claear and put one hand on the trophy. ZTE got back to winning ways as they beat Honved and jumped Fehevar in to fourth. A busy week upcoming. We travel to face Cegled in the cup and then welcome relegation threatened Ujpest at the weekend. Can we start scoring some goals again.

Found the problem add on. The pack i added for the Hungarian top flight added remapping for colours. Standard kit packs are just images, like player faces or badges. I removed the top flight pack and it fixed the clash in the last game. ZTE were playing in blue. I will edit my post because it's not fair for me to grumble when it was indeeed my fault.

I just have a kit images add on. Pretty sure it doesn't change any in game colours. I could be wrong. They just add these pics, don't they?

OTP Bank Liga Matchday 22 Preview ZTE are having a season similar to our own and are just three points behind us. Zete score just a few less goals but concede a lot more, a factor that makes for entertaining games at ZTE Arena. There has been just one 0-0 there all season. It's clear that we will have to be tuned in in defence but it's also true that ZTE haven't won now in the last three league games. Like us, they want to get back to winning ways. My scouts believe we can expect a robust 4-4-2 with wingers that cut inside, so dealing with crosses shouldn't be a big issue for this game. OTP Bank Liga Matchday 22 - ZTE Football Club vs MTK Budapest FC Brad Young returns today for MTK, replacing Nemeth. In defence, Zeke is the chosen man at left back and Rodney Kongolo replaces the injured Lehoczky in midfield. We chose to ask Nagain about the desires of ZTE manager, Ricardo Muniz, to "get one over on MTK". "I don't really know what I said in the last match for Ricardo to get so irritated with me. I can safely say I don't want hiom to get that win though." ~~~ 3 mins: ⚽ GOAL! ZTE 0-1 MTK Balint Szabo Great use of the ball out wide finds Fernando Medeiros in a great position on the edge of the box. It's the Brazilian's final ball to find a poorly marked Szabo that is a real peach though. Szabo turns and fires MTK ahead. ~~~ HT: ZTE 0-1 MTK ~~~ FT: ZTE 0-1 MTK That was not the greatest performance we have ever produced but the three points are what counts. It was a tough game decided by a poor bit of defending early on. Szabo was given acres of space. MTK Player of the Match: Balint Szabo was the key man again and he nearly added a second later in the match. Balint is on 11 goals and 9 assists now. He is just one goal behind Kovacsreti. Wins for Ferencvaros and Puskas Akademia keep them detached from us, despite our win. We have a five point lead over the new fourth placed team though. That is now Fehervar, after they beat ten-man Debrecen on Saturday. Ujpest and Haladas both lost to see them eight points shy of Vasas. Next up for us is a huge game against Puskas Akademia. It could be a decided as to whether we fight for top two or have to be content with third place. Eleven games left now.

My mistake. I had a nasty clash of kits but it turns out it was a specific kit pack I added for the Hungarian top flight that did more than the kit packs I usually add to the game, that are just images for the profile pages. The problem kit pack added remaps for the kits of some clubs.

The back's feeling better - a new mattress helped massively, I think. I fancy some FM so I'll see what the typing does for me. Wednesday 14th February 2024 My love was not happy that we were playing a match on Valentine's Day - not that she's a stickler for the romance of the day - but she's even less happy that I've damaged plans for a quiet meal for two tomorrow night. Celebrating the win over Dorog with the lads I've gone an tweaked something in my back. The club doctor had a look and says it's just muscular but right now I'm moving about the apartment like one of the walking dead. You'd think Pandora might be more sympathetic, but no. Rosina is laughing like the little brat she is. I'll hobble in to training tomorrow and see how it goes. Vaszilisz Teodoru can do any running about. He has offered to come pick me up first thing. That's what assisatants are for. Pandora does have a sympathetic bone. She's just offered to give me a massage and see if it helps. Hey. I know what you're thinking and no, I can't manage anything like that. The window was pretty uneventful for us. We signed Brad Young and finalised the signing of young Gabor Kurunczi from Jaszberenyi. Gabor will stay with his former club until the end of the season. He is thought of as a key player for the third tier club. When it comes to outgoings we have been more active. It's mainly been loan deals but Barnabas Biben moved on a free to Ujpest and Oliver Szollosi joined Gyor. I may have mentioned either. It's been a while and I can't quite remember. Puskas Akademia brought in Ivan Saponjic from Slovan Bratislava in a deal that could make our rivals significantly stronger. The striker has made appearances for Atletico in Spain but has struggled to hit any real heights in his career. Could this move be the making of him? Ferencvaros acquired just right back Mayke and a young attacking midfielder named Yegor Smelov from Dinamo Moscow. And, yes, I have mentioned them. OTP Bank Liga Matchday 21 Preview Last season's Hungarian runners up find themselves down in sixth place as they prepare to travel to the Hidegkuti Nandor. Our opponents have not had the best of things since the return to football after the winter break. They lost to Haladas last weekend despite beating Puskas Akademia the week before. Transfer deadline day saw the procurement of centre back Levente Babos from Puskas Akademia but he may be more one for the future than an immediate starter. Defensively, Kisvarda have performed well in the league this season but their general performance is somewhat worse than ours, according to my data team. Our opponents have struggled to find the net but have conceded more goals than only us, Ferencvaros and Puskas Akademia. Where Kisvarda fail is in attack. In stark contrast to their defensive record, Kisvarda have scored just 22 times this season, with only Vasas, Ujpest and Haladas having a worse record in front of goal. MOL Magyar Kupa Quarter Final Draw Many will say we have lucked out with a trip to third tier Cegled. Our opponents are down in 18th in their third tier group but have already beaten two second tier sides in the cup. We are unbeaten for nine cup games now. OTP Bank Liga Matchday 21 - MTK Budapest vs Kisvarda FC MTK revert to a more recognised lineup than that which faced Dorog in the cup but there are changes from the side that faced Ferencvaros last time out in the OTP Bank Liga. Janos Szepe returns in central defence and Marsel Ismajlegeci is chosen over Zeke at left back. In central midfield Lehoczky gets the nod over Kongolo and Nemeth replaces the injured Brad Young as ther spearhead. We asked Nagain if he thought his side could bounce back from defeat to Ferencvaros or if he was still concerned that Kisvarda would be looking to bounce back themselves, as he said in his press conference. "I haven't changed my mind since yesterday, no. Kisvarda will want to rectify the loss to Haladas. We're a good side though, and I fully believe in my lads to dominate this match." ~~~ 38 mins: ⚽ GOAL! MTK 1-0 Kisvarda Balint Szabo MTK have had the run of this game and they finally get the breakthrough. It comes from some lovely overload football down the right. Miknyoczki finds Kovacsreti with a cross from deep and a quick ball on finds Szabo with just the keeper to beat. The keeper gets a hand to the ball but it dribbles over the line. ~~~ HT: MTK 1-0 Kisvarda ~~~ 53 mins: ⚽ GOAL MTK 1-1 Kisvarda Jasmin Mesanovic A slip up from MTK at the back as Varga completely misses Camaj's ball across the box and Mesanovic taps home. To be fair, the defence lost their man too. ~~~ FT: MTK 1-1 Kisvarda I'm disappointed we didn't manage to win this but have to applaud Kisvarda for their second half performance in a game of two halves. They had been poor in the first 45 and we should probably have had a more than one goal lead. We failed to cope with the attacking play of a Kisvarda side determined to turn around the 3-0 loss to Haladas last week and we could have lost the match, if I'm honest. MTK Player of the Match: Balint Szabo was our best player and it was he who applied the finish to our first half goal. This weekend saw dominant wins for both Ferencvaros and Puskas Akademia that detaches us from the title race very slightly. Ferencvaros are now seven points clear at the top. ZTE could have close on us but suffered defeat to Mezokovesd in a result that keeps the chasing pack very tight. Up next for us are ZTE in a clash we really need to win.

Thanks. Wait till nearly 50. Yes, you're right. Sadly, it can be as troublesome doing other stuff too. Need a trip to the physio. Thanks for the kind words, both.

MOL Magyar Kupa Fifth Round Preview Dorog are having a reasonable season and find themselves in 7th in the Merkantil Bank Liga. Until this past weekend, when they lost 2-1 at Pecs, Banyasz had been unbeaten for four second tier games. As a guide for what we might expect from Dorog, they have played our second team once this season, losing 1-0 at home. Giuseppe Lauri scored the MTKII goal and my thinking is that it might be an idea to send out a mix of youth and established talent. I should be cautious because results have been mixed for MTKII this season. I won't underestimate Dorog. We can expect our opponents to play much of what we faced regularly last season, longer passing and balls high in to the box. Top scorer for the season so far for Dorog is Zoltan Szedlar. Zoltan plays wide left but will cut in regularly on his right foot. He is direct and is the man to watch. Dorog have only conceded 21 goals to date in 2023/2024 but have only scored 27. I have faith that we can keep them quiet in front of goal and surely we can score. MOL Magyar Kupa Fifth Round - Dorogi Futball Klub vs MTK Budapest FC Nagain has made wholesale changes for this trip to Dorog in the cup. In goal is Varga. Across the back four are Miles, Vidnyanszky, Nagy and Ismajlgeci. In the center of midfield Lehoczky partners Horvath. The wide men are Akos Zuigeber, Matyas Kovacs and Nemeth makes the starting lineup playing behind Zoltan Vasvari. We did ask Nagain why he had chosen so many less regular names when in his press conference he said he wouldn't under estimate Dorog. "This isn't a weak side. I have many good players to chose from and this just gives some of those who might get less match action a chance to impress." ~ 19 mins: ⚽ GOAL! Dorog 0-1 MTK Krisztian Nemeth Direct football from the so far impressive Zuigeber gets MTK in to the area. The ball is played back to Miles who hits one from distance. The ball canons off the boot, with what amounts to a spectacular volley, of Nemeth. The old dog still has it. ~ 26 mins: ⚽ GOAL! Dorog 0-2 MTK Matyas Kovacs MTK are passing the ball about with ease now. Working it from right to left, the ball comes to Matyas Kovacs on the left of the box and he lets fly with a thunderbolt that the keeper has no chance with. ~ HT: Dorog 0-2 MTK It's pretty comfortable for MTK, although they have taken their foot off the gas a little to give Dorog a few sighters ~ 63 mins: ⚽ GOAL! Dorog 0-3 MTK Brad Young A lovely direct goal from MTK as Matyas Kovacs plays in Young with a peach of a through ball. Young's only been on the park a few minutes. ~ FT: Dorog 0-3 MTK It was a comfortable win at Dorog. Three good goals and a clean sheet. Dorog's manager was rather judgmental of us after the match, suggesting we weren't as good as we thought we were. His assessment was that his Dorog side tested us. They did, but we took our foot off the gas for long spells today. I was impressed with Dorog but we barely got out of second gear today. MTK Player of the Match: Matyas Kovacs was in impressive form today, creating three chances, notching an assist and scoring a lovely strike. Matyas bossed the game and Dorog had litle answer to him. The biggest sides avoided the shocks this weekend but there was a win for Nemzeti Bajnoksag side Cegled. They beat Merkantil Liga second placed side Szeged. It wasn't the fairytale continuation for minor league side Salgotarjani as they lost 3-0 at home to ZTE. I'm going to leave it there for today. I meant to play more this weekend but will confess that I didn't really fancy it. Sometimes I need little breaks from FM, and in fact I do struggle to play any of the same game for lengthy spans of time these days. I'll get back in to the swing of it soon. I have also had an outbreak of a niggly upper back pain I suffer with. If I sit back in my chair it's not so bad but typing can aggravate it for some reason. I blame my job... When you're young you think that when you reach a certain age you can sit and play video games so much more. Kids grown up or just more free time. Then you get sciatica, other back pain or maybe arthritis and it doesn't pan out as you thought. Yes, I am Victor Meldrew.

Monday 4th February 2024 Papers and fans alike are lauding over the performance of Brad Young. Inspired on my part, I have to say. One paper made the hilarious suggestion that had England had Brad Young in 1953 then Puskas' Hungary would not have had their famous victory at Wembley. I just want to make sure Brad feels at home here in Budapest. The club are doing everything to make that so and he and Terence Miles have struck up a friendship. I have made the decision to keep Terence at the club even though he's rarely featuring. There were thoughts he would go out on loan. Do I still want signings? The answer is that I'm not really sure. We have a good squad and perhaps it is best to keep that rather than bring new faces in and disrupt the harmony. OTP Bank Liga Matchday 19 Preview Fehervar are a good side. They're having a mixed season and have recently become detached from the top four. Andras Szabo, Fehervar's interim manager, will be keen to put that right. Fehervar are known to play the atypical 4-4-2 but with Szabo being in temporary charge (Szabolcs Hustl was sacked 18 days ago) we don't know for sure that that is how they will continue to line up. However, they did line up that way at Puskas Akademia last weekend and got a good 1-0 win. Kenan Kodro is a danger up front for Fehervar. The Bosnian has 10 goals in 19 starts and is an experienced 10 time capped player. Where we can be hopeful is Fehervar's poor defensive record this season. Their 27 conceded is one of the worst in the division. They score well too though. It could be an interesting game. OTP Bank Liga Matchday 19 - MOL Fehérvár FC vs MTK Budapest FC With the game against Ferencvaros at the weekend, Nagain has again made a number of changes. Medgyes and Szepe come in for Zeke and Vidnyanszki in defence. In midfield Szabolcs Mezei gets a start alongside Kongolo. Behind Young MTK line up with an unfamiliar Stieber, Bognar and Mate Kovacs. ~ 5 mins: ⚽ GOAL! Fehervar 0-1 MTK Murilo, og Disaster at the back for Fehervar. Mate Kovacs breaks into the box and puts a ball across the goal. Fiola gets a foot to the ball, hoping to send it wide, but it looks to be going in. Murilo slides in to clear but can only send the ball home. ~ 12 mins: ⚽ GOAL! Fehervar 1-1 MTK Giorgi Kharaishvili Fehervar knock the ball around nicely at the back, following a corner. The ball eventually comes left to Kharaishvili and he fires home a lovely curling effort past the reach of Varga. Game on! ~ 17 mins: ⚽ GOAL! Fehervar 2-1 MTK Fortune Bassey Fehervar are playing some lovely football and much of it is going through Kodro. It is Kodro that plays a delightful through ball in to the path of Bassey who slots it past the despairing reach of Varga. MTK have to hold on here. ~ 28 mins: 🟥 RED CARD! Szabolcs Mezei Mezei's enthusiasm gets the better of him as he slides in on his man and the ref immediately reaches for the red. It may be a little harsh and it's going to make MTK's job all the harder here. Bognar is sacrificed for Nagain to bring on Medeiros. ~ 36 mins: ❕ PENALTY! (Fehervar) It gets worse for MTK. Medgyes is adjudged to have pushed his man and the referee points to the spot. VAR have a look. It's a penalty. ~ 37 mins: ❌ PENALTY SAVED! (Kodro) Varga is the hero for MTK. Truth be told, Kodro's penalty is a poor one but Varga gets down and holds on to the ball. We have a game here. ~ HT: Fehervar 2-1 MTK An entertaining first half but MTK have work to do. Nagain looks to have instructed a slight more direct game but can Stieber match the pace needed? ~ 45 mins: We thought so. Kovacsreti is on for the second half. MTK hoping to use pace to get an equaliser? ~ 74 mins: ❕ PENALTY! (MTK) Young is hacked down just inside the box by Dewaele and MTK will have a chance from the spot. VAR agrees after a short delay. ~ 74 mins: ⚽ GOAL! Fehervar 2-2 MTK Mark Kovacsreti Kovacsreti slots the penalty home with confidence and we're all level. Can MTK hang on to a point with ten men? ~ FT: Fehervar 2-2 MTK That was a very entertaining game. Fehervar may feel agrieved to have lost two points but both sides had chances. I am actually delighted to get a draw out of that. Fehervar played very well and Kodro was dangerous throughout. Mezei's red made it harder for us but I honestly don't believe it was intentional and I'm not sure it was as bad as people have suggested. MTK Player of the Match: Bence Varga saved a penalty to keep us in this game and put in a commanding perfoemance throughout. There was no blame attached for either Fehervar goal. Coupled with our draw, Ferencvaros beat Honved to go top by five points. Puskas Akademia suffered another defeat as Urblik was sent off at home to Kisvarda. ZTE could also only draw but there's still a little gap to fifth. At the bottom, Haladas lost to Vasas and are in real trouble. Thursday 8th February 2024 That game was not good for my nerves. The cup of tea was good before bed tonight. We've lost big ground on Ferencvaros...and we know who's next up. Uh oh. I had thought about a new center back in this window. We weren't great at the back tonight and I am thinking about it more. We do have some great upcoming players in that position but the board gave me more money after I said we would finish top half (they had originally just wanted safety). So, should I spend that extra money and find someone that really takes us to another level? To be very honest, I think we might be better hanging on to what we have done this season and spend more time looking for the right man. Unless he appears on my radar before next week's window closure. OTP Bank Liga Matchday 20 Preview We played the league leaders - and favourites - just recently and got a commendable draw at their place. I wonder if we can better that at home. It's not going to be easy because we know how good this team is. I will just be happy with a good performance and real effort. Fradi have picked up two players and both will have come in to full fitness since we last played. Mayke is an excellent Brazilian right back that can influence anywhere on the pitch and Yegor Smelov is a young attacking midfielder that is most probably one for the future. Mayke did actually play in the draw at their place but it was his first game for his new club. I'll judge him on this upcoming match. He's running scared... OTP Bank Liga Matchday 20 - MTK Budapest FC vs Ferencvárosi Torna Club MTK are missing just Mezei for the visit of Ferencvaros and Nagain has gone with a strong side. Varga, Miknyoczki, Vidnyanszki, Szalai and Zeke at the back. Kongolo and Medeiros in midfield. Kovacsreti, Szabo, Matyas Kovacs and Young up front. We asked Nagain how he rated MTK's chances. "You have to be confident, don't you? If I'm not then the players may struggle. It'll be tough but I firmly believe we're good enough." ~ 13 mins: ⚽ GOAL! Eldar Civic A stunning free kick from Civic puts the away team one up. Nagain is geeing his team up on the sideline. ~ HT: MTK 0-1 Ferencvaros It's a tight game but Ferencvaros have the advantage at the halfway mark. ~ 51 mins: A glorious chance for Szabo to level but his shot is off kilter and goes wide. ~ 85 mins: A contentious passage of play as first Nemeth seems to be brought down inside the box, only for the referee to look uninterested, and then is free on goal only to be flagged off. Fradi are hanging on a bit. ~ FT: MTK 0-1 Ferencvaros MTK fought to the end but just fall short. Is the title now Ferencvaros'? I don't think we played badly today. We certainly weren't demolished by Fradi. We were unlucky to lose Kongolo to a knock. I gave the Congoan a chance after the break but he didn't look comfortable. There was some criticism of Young today but I thought he found space well. He was well dealt with by Cherchesov's tactics and that is a part of the game the lad will have to learn.. MTK Player of the Match: Gabor Szalai put in a great performance in defence today. He won 23 headers and 6 interceptions to keep the opposition at bay. I can't ignore a 95% pass completion rating either. That win for Fradi gives them a seven point gap over Puskas who jump us courtesy of a 3-0 win at Honved. Fourth placed ZTE lost to the resurgent Vasas who stretched their lead on Ujpest. On Sunday Haladas stunned Kisvarda with a 3-0 win that allowed them to close the gap to Ujpest to just three points. Fehervar had a good 4-1 win over Mezokovesd to move back fifth. It's the transfer deadline day this week, a day after we meet Dorog in the cup. At the weekend we face inconsistent Kisvarda, looking to get back to winning ways.

Monday 29th January 2024 I often wonder what I'd be doing if I hadn't realised my late ambition in life to be a football manager. I have no doubt I would still be an intellectual. That is something one is gifted with from birth, though it is a surprise that I managed to retain that gift with the upbringing in my childhood household. Frozen meals do not gift the nutrients a growing child needs for better brain power. Had myself and Pandora brought me up then I have no doubt I would have been a brain surgeon or perhaps an internationally acclaimed philosopher. Someone who won laureates or nobel prizes. But, were I not a football manager, I would probably be sitting in the European parliament translating for one of Pandora's political associates when they confer with the German environment minister. I am a football manager though, and a very good one, even if I say so myself. My languages come in handy too. We have a number of nationalities at MTK. I went to a fashion show today. I am not sure why I chose to analyse my life's choices before segwaying in to that proclamation. It was Rosina's first fashion show, that I must have mentioned before. I am proud of my little sister. Her clothes were quite modest. Of course, had she designe something as small as what she used to wear dancing then she'd be most frugal clothing designer in the western world. Anton Nagain, early 2024 I can't recall when I last posted a profile. I think I'm studying for Continental A. That bottom relationship is Ede Visinka, manager of Tiszakecske until 2022. I don't know why he dislikes me. Maybe he lost his job when we beat his club 2-1 in late 2022. OTP Bank Liga Matchday 18 Preview Vasas are having an unspectacular season and they sit down in 10th place in the OTP Bank Liga. Vasas have fallen behind early strugglers Honved after going eight games without a win. The last victory was a 4-0 stuffing of Haladas at the end of October. It therefore goes without saying that we will be the favourites when we meet on Saturday. It will be a further worry for Vasas that they have only scored twice in this poor run, but maybe a consolation that they have only conceded seven goals. One of Vasas' new signings, defensive midfielder Augusto Max, will be likely absent for our tie with a virus. Wide man Adam Pinter, who signed from Szeged just a few days ago, may well get his debut though. PInter is a man I have had scouted myself so I know he could be dangerous. My scouts say Vasas will play a cautious game and aim to get the ball to target forward, Soma Novothny. We will have to watch Filip Holender, playing off of Novothny. Between them, Novothny and Holender have 11 goals this season. I am quietly confident that we can keep Vasas' forward line quiet and bang in a few goals ourselves. Transfer News I have found a striker, courtesy of one of our parent clubs. Aston Villa this time. It is another Englishman and I hope he and Terence Miles can form a little friendship during his time here in Budapest. Meet Brad Young. Brad is a young striker with some pace and a good all round game for his 21 years. Brad spent last season on loan at Ayr, in Scotland, scoring 11 goals. Brad is definitely good enough to make an impact in the Hungarian top flight and my scouts believe he has the adaptability to settle fast. I have also had eyes on another striker. An Austrian and a very good player indeed. Domzale were cheeky enough to ask for £1.4m though!!! We'll see where that one goes. Monthly Performance Review The fans seem a little less picky this month. OTP Bank Liga Matchday 18 - MTK Budapest FC vs Vasas Futball Club Brad Young comes straight in to the starting lineup for today's match against Vasas. Kongolo is also chosen over Lehoczky and Horvath comes in to the side in place of Fernando Medeiros. At center back Adam Vidnyanszky gets a start today and Zsombor Nagy is his partner. We spoke to Nagain before the match and asked him about rotation for the upcoming week in which MTK have two games. Is Nagain concious of rotating players? "It is something we have to consider when weeks get busy like this one promises to me. I hate to take Vasas' recent form for granted but this is a good chance for young defenders like Adam [Vidnyanszky] to really impress me, not that he has done anything wrong in the games he has played this season so far." ~ 20 mins: Young very nearly gets a goal on his debut. The Englishman has been all running so far and he gets his foot to a Miknyoczki cross but the effort goes just wide. ~ 35 mins: ⚽ GOAL! MTK 1-0 Vasas Brad Young Young does get a goal on his debut and it's an easy tap in after an error from Vasas keeper Dombo. Dombo comes out to catch a deep Kovacs cross but clumsily drops the ball which lands in the path of Young. It's an easy finish there after. ~ 40 mins: ⚽ GOAL! MTK 2-0 Vasas Mark Kovacsreti Sublime counter attacking football from MTK. Kongolo nicks the ball in midfield and Szabo picks up the lose ball, driving forward. Kovacsreti made a great run down the right and Szabo found him with a pinpoint ball into the IF's path. The defiant finish topped off a wonderful move. ~ 46 mins: ⚽ GOAL! MTK 3-0 Vasas Brad Young A brace for the new guy. Some lovely intricate football from MTK completely bamboozles the Vasas defence and Kovacs feed Young clear. The finish shows no nerves. MTK are schooling all in how to play lovely one or two touch football here. ~ HT: MTK 3-0 Vasas MTK are dominant here. That was a fantastic half of football from the European hopefuls. And what a debut for Brad Young. ~ 59 mins: ⚽ GOAL! MTK 4-0 Vasas Brad Young Unbelievable Jeff! It's a debut hattrick for young Brad Young. Matyas Kovacs has been outsanding today and he plays a lovely crossfield ball to Stieber. The veteran then plays a lovely ball in for Young to rush on to and score. Shabanov probably should have cut Stieber's ball out though. The defender will be annoyed at that mistake. ~ FT: MTK 4-0 Vasas A dominant attacking display by MTK. Vasas had their chances in this game though, just the final ball was often lacking. It was a very enjoyable game. Well, that was enjoyable. I seem to have found a striker then. I noticed such a difference between the performance of Young and those of Krisztian Nemeth over the recent months. Young was hungry for the ball today and he was all over the park, coming deep to support the midfield and racing on to forward balls to score. I hate to do this to such a good club servant in Krisztian, but the difference today was night and day. I suppose that is age for you. 21 years old and full of running. MTK Player of the Match: It can only be Brad Young, can't it? The truth is that Matyas Kovacs had a game that ranked among his best in an MTK shirt today. However, if you score a debut hattrick then how can you not be the best player on the park? Welcome to Budapest, Brad Young. Puskas Akademia slipped up on Saturday to send us back to second. A good late win for ZTE means it's a top four battle now, with a gap merging to 5th. Ferencvaros stay three points clear with a comfortable win over Mezokovesd. On Sunday the battle at the bottom produced a goalless draw that Ujpest possibly should have won. Honved also got a tight win over Debrecen that continues their rise up the table. The goals are back! I really do feel bad for Nemeth that Young has come in and scored a debut hattrick. The man is retiring and a young whipersnapper comes in and schools him like that! Yeah, it's just a game, but... I wanted a Brad Young gif but google only knew this other guy...dunno if he's famous...

Haha, you'd be surprised how much I google whilst writing this. I have this OCD when writing things on here. It pained me to remove accents. I saw the derby name come up on FM and wondered why it was called that. Oro, I thought, had to be gold because that's what it is in Spanish. I put it in google translate under Hungarian and google translate had no translation. It did have a little prompt suggesting esperanto though. In short, no I don't know esperanto, apart from the little in Red Dwarf. I do love languages though. I watch quite a few videos on the subject. It does fascinate me how so many different languages evolved. I just don't make the effort to learn them really. My biggest flaw is my laziness (and it is very strange how my laziness and my OCD to make things realistic(...ish) mix. When I went to Poland in the mid 90s I decided I must know some Polish (less people in places like that spoke English back then) so I had a phrase book. Went into a post office to get a stamp and they had no idea what I was saying. Took one bright guy in the queue to realise I needed a stamp. Polish is evil. I am planning a trip to Hungary later this year. I want to try and get to a MTK game. I will take some Hungarian words with me. Much easier these days, with the internet to help me pronounce. Less likely to get "could I buy a stamp please" utterly wrong. This has been an excuse for me to learn about Hungary. I plan to visit Slovenia too, after doing a Koper save and write up.

There has been a lack of actual football updates this week, I know. Despite having time off work, so free time to play, I've struggled to get in to games in general, let alone FM23. Thanks to Loki Doki's new Tik Tok (won't go there...), I feel a little more like playing a few matches. Sunday 21st January 2023 We're just around the corner from the return to football after Christmas and I still can't find a new striker. I'd had my sights firmly set on a Ukranian but he said no to a loan deal at MTK. Whether that was the MTK part or the being on loan. He had already signified his intent to leave his club at the end of this season so I don't know why he turned us down. We have had a Japanese lad in on trial recently but I'm not sure if that's going to happen either. Taichi is a pleasant young man but I wonder if the distance from home is disrupting his game. He has struggled since moviong from his homeland. I'll give him one more chance in an MTKII friendly this week. I have choices to make. My scouts have highlighted a number of players from abroad or there are local prospects we could take a chance on. This includes one former MTK youngster that leads the Merkantil Bank Liga scoring charts this season. My scouts say he is not one for the big occaison though. He's scored 15 in 19! It's a lower level but is that enough to give him a chance? OTP Bank Liga Matchday 17 Preview Ferencvaros are rightly sitting top of the league right now, if we look at the quality of their squad. Fradi have quality in every single position but if we are going to focus on one player it could be Sammy Mmaee who has struggled for form of late. Could this be the reason why goals have not come super easy for Fradi of late - just 26 in their 16 matches in the OTP Bank Liga this season. By contrast, we have scored 33. Ferencvaros are still a very good side though, and the above is clutching at straws. We will have to be at our very best to get a point. OTP Bank Liga Matchday 17 - Ferencvárosi Torna Club vs MTK Budapest FC I couldn't find a translation for Örökrangadó on google translate, but wikipaedia says "from 1931 the term Örökrangadó was used which was coined by Gyula Bendekovics, a barber assistant, in a contest organised by a sports paper". It means gold crowning in esperanto though. The journals of Anton Nagain teach you so many useless facts! I wonder if Mr Bendekovics was influenced by esperanto? No huge omissions from the squad for MTK. Fresh from the winter break Medgyes is struggling after a knock and so Zeke replaces him at left back. Lehoczky is the chosen man in the deep midfield role with Medeiros tasked to support the attack. Despite some fitness concerns Matyas Kovacs lines up on the left of attack. ~ 10 mins: Ten minutes in and MTK are passing the ball around as if playing minnows. A lovely flowing attack leads to the first corner of the match. ~ 20 mins: The game has slowly turned in favour of Fradi and the hosts have had a number of shots on Varga's goal. Finishing has been poor so far. ~ 31 mins: ⚽ GOAL! Ferencvaros 0-1 MTK Balint Szabo Some great atatcking football find Kovacsreti free down the right. The IF drives in to the box and his quick ball across finds Szabo bursting in to the area. Szabo blasts the ball home to raucous cheers from the away end. MTK have the lead. ~ 34 mins: ⚽ GOAL! Ferencvaros 1-1 MTK Tokmac Nguen Fradi hit back immediately. Civic finally gets free down the right and his cross into the box gets a toe from Nguen that helps it past Varga. One has to say that the MTK defence were caught half asleep there. ~ HT: An entertaining 45 comes to a close with the sides level. Ferencvaros look slightly the better side but MTK are capable of hitting the hosts on the break. ~ FT: Ferencvaros 1-1 MTK Truthfully, the game fixxled out a little in the second half. Better finishing from the hosts mights have secured a win but we have to credit the MTK defence for keeping the league leaders at arm's length. We played pretty well today but lacked a cutting edge. Nemeth was again sluggish in attack and rarely looked like linking up effectively with Szabo or Kovacsreti. Ferencvaros also failed to find a cutting edge and I have to echo that we did keep the host's attack limited to ranged efforts. MTK Player of the Match: Fernando Medeiros worked hard today, so hard that I needed to withdraw him for a rest before the end. It was the midfielder that set the tempo for our attacking efforts whilst also being there to help break up Fradi attacks in a combative midfield. The OTP Bank Liga returned to a full house of draws on Saturday, with the top of the table clash seeing Ferencvaros held at home by MTK. Sunday then saw Puskas Akademia go back in to second with a single goal win over bottom club Haladas. In fourth, ZTE moved clear of Kisvarda with a 2-1 defeat of Mezokovesd. The End Of A Journey Two stars of the club decided their time in football is to come to an end as this season ends. Neither are really OTP Bank Liga coaching material so it will be goodbye. We will remember the great moments they have given this club, many in the time I have been here. Krisztian Nemeth's hattrick as we stuffed Mezokovesd to win the Magyar Kupa or Zoltan Stieber's late cameo in Ukraine to nearly win us three points in our group. Two special moments. Vasas for us next, as we enter February and the business of the transfer window. I may have found my striker though. More on that later. I think that's an older one of Nemeth...

Thanks. Must have added the info after

It should do that when I close down the game. Had steam on for hours after playing FM last. Also seem to have 0 bytes stored on cloud. I only use the one computer for FM. Can't really blame SI if Valve don't do enough to inform users what's downloaded, of course. Maybe it's a Steam thing. Just nothing to explain size or what's downloaded. If it was a patch someone would surely have said something by now. Probably one of those strange occurances Steam has of random updates. I've had it before

Can't think of a better place to ask. I had a small FM23 update today but no information on what it was. It's not workshop. Any mods/staff know? Little hotfix?

Sorry to hear that. Seems I missed the poll but I'd honestly say to go with what makes you feel happiest. How far did you get with the rest of those games in L1?

Monday 1st January 2024 I write this mid afternoon on the first day of a new year. I'm a little gingerly this afternoon after a late night of celebrating the new year in Budapest. I know it's not usually my style but Pandora talked me in to it. She felt like partying after a quiet Christmas. Yes, I know I have neglected you of late, dear diary, but I have had a relaxing time of it recently. There mave been many meetings with club officials regarding everything from the renewing of contracts to potential new signings that could push us to the next level. As for new year celebrations, well I found myself partying with political friends of Pandora. Green and socialist politicians. I made it a bit more football friendly by inviting some of my coaching team and their partners. I am going to surprise all - it certainly surprised my love - by saying that I had a reasonably fun time. It was a more civilised affair than the raucous sounds I could hear on the streets as we all headed into Budapest to cheer in the new year. I am almost becoming a party animal. First there was my parent's 'wedding', that I must admit I had a more pleasureable time at that I ever thought I would, and now a party at new year. If it wasn't for the quiet Christmas shared between myself and Pandora it wouldn't be a case of almost. Hopefully a new year brings success in football. We no longer have the distraction of European football. Can we challenge the established clubs, especially Puskas Akademia and Ferencvaros? I am seeing rumours in the press that we could lose Fernando Medeiros for his release cause. We have a later window than the big leagues, so should that happen then we can replace. Unless I decide to rely on Horvath and Mezei until the summer. My sights are set firmly on a target striker, but that late window could put us at a disadvantage there. It's been a long time since my youthful new resolutions that included such highlights as get less spots and touch a real boob. I am not sure how I ever thought I would pull off the second one as a very timid and peculiar adolescent. I really said things like that. I looked. My resolutions this year are simple. Make sure my Pandora knows of my love, continue this party animal nature and have some fun this year (but be sure not to descend in to the madness that is my sister) and continue to learn as a football manager (securing European football again is a must for me). I may be a bit unfair to Rosina. My sister has her first fashion show later this month. She is showing off some of her designs. Rosina still parties but her dress sense has evolved to be a little less 'short' and she has calmed down a bit. If there is a man then she hasn't introduced him to me yet. Yes, a long entry to start a new year. When I one day write my memoirs I shall remember my enthusiasm going in to 2024. MTK Budapest Financial Update The money earnt from the Budapest Boys European Tour is starting to dwindle and with new contracts being signed we're closing in on our wage budget. The fact of the matter is that we need the European games to make money. If a club was to come in for Fernando Medeiros, and agree to pay his £400k release clause, then I think I'd accept. Not that I'd have a choice, of course. Monthly Performance Review Again, the disparity between what the board feel and what the fans feel. MTK II and U19s Updates MTK II It has been hit and miss for our second team in the first half of the season. Eight losses see the team down in 8th in the Merkantil Bank Liga. The team seem to have alternate good and bad months. Unbeaten in December after winning just once in November. There had been just one win in October after losing all games in September. U19s Our U19s finished second in the U19 seeded group and find themselves in Group A of the Second Phase. European Leagues RoundUp Arsenal have a string lead in England and the same is true for Bayern in Germany, Benfica in Portugal, Ajax in the Netherlands and Celtic in Scotland. PSG have a small lead in France and it is very close in Spain and Italy. The lads return soon for a couple of busy weeks of training. Friendlies against Gorica and Lech Poznan lead us back in to the second half of our season. We will finish January with a trip to Ferencvaros. There is, of course, the small matter of the window opening on 15th January.