Mark Twain’s classic The Beggar and the Prince reminded me of the fact that after 23 rounds in NB I, Kecskemét was second, and Fehérvár was second from behind, when, depending on the financial situation, it should be the other way around. About – as if the football players of both clubs had changed places for one season.
But this season is not the only problem in Fahrevar, this crisis has been going on for a long time. While the club continues to stand out from the field of NB I in terms of its budget, next to and behind Ferencváros, we cannot explain this low flight by economic means, that is, it is clearly a professional crisis.
It is no coincidence that the mayor, András Sezer-Palković, also mentions Marko Nikolic, and it is no coincidence that the club’s management is already negotiating with him: perhaps his tenure was the last in which the team was professional.
It was as if the missing piece of the puzzle had been added to the picture with Nikolic, just like shortly after with Szerhij Rebrov at Ferencváros. Let’s add that at that time Videoton / Vidi was ahead of Ferencváros, and not the other way around: during this period, Fehérvár’s player policy was noticeably more thoughtful and conceptual. For example, they were the first to apply the principle that the team should be strengthened for the summer qualifiers for international cups in the winter, and not in the summer, just before or during cup matches, which is now practice in Ferencváros. also.
If we now compare Fehérvár’s coach selection with Ferencváros again – and in all respects only the FTC can be Vidi’s benchmark – the contrast is almost stark: the green and whites regularly appoint professionals with routine international coaching experience, while the Fehérvár are practically novices, but in Less than those who, as coaches, have not yet fought a single mosque on the stage that Fedi is trying to get to, that is, in international cups. Huszti/Toldi, Boris, Szabics, Márton are all in this category.
It can also be said that Fehérvár gives a chance to coaches who are at the beginning of their career or who have only worked at a lower level so far, but this task should be taken on by middle teams, not by a team that works with such a level of players and such a budget. It’s like in Formula 1, Red Bull constantly puts drivers who spin at the end of the field into their cars instead of Verstappen, to see if they come around – it’s no coincidence we haven’t seen this before. Younger and more experienced coaches are certainly cheaper than Ferencváros coaches, but if a club invests as much money in the salaries of its players as Fedi is, it is not only unnecessary but a waste of money to spare for the coach. . If Vervar had tried one or two of these trainers in addition to several routine specialists, it would still be quite normal, but this series of experiences is incomprehensible to me.
In addition, Székesfehérvár has a tradition of extraordinary coaching decisions: a perhaps arguably world record coach who won the first two championships in the club’s history had to leave after celebrating. Giorgi Mizzi was replaced by Paolo Souza in 2011 (although at least the long-term purpose of the move was visible), and Juan Carrillo was replaced by Bernard Cassone in 2015. I don’t want to draw an unappealable conclusion from this, but putting this together The events of recent years, when – at this level – the green-eared coaches manage the team, one gets the impression that the club’s management seems to feel it. They don’t need a good coaching concept, because the player stock and club model guarantee results. On the other hand, the former (second) sports director, Zoltan Kovacs, gave the exact explanation after his departure in a statement that in Hungarian football it is necessary to accredit the coaches, not the players, but this did not work out amazingly and still does not work for him. the team.
And if we look at the past in this way: It can also be said that this club should not have held three league titles, but much more than that. From the end of Debrecen’s “golden age” to the rise of Ferencváros with Rebrov, Videoton should have won almost all the league titles based on club background, financial and career opportunities, but they managed “only” three. A great example of this is the first place they lost to Honvéd in 2017, despite having a routine coach on the bench in the person of Henning Berg – only to be followed by Nikolic.
Of course, if the Serbian coach returns now, it is not a guarantee of everything, see even Carrillo’s return after Nikolic’s sacking – it is characteristic of football and all team sports that the club, the coach and the players form a package, the quality and harmony of these three elements necessary for success (that ‘chemistry’ which has been much talked about), and Nikolic will now have to start over from the beginning.
The money is undoubtedly in place – Fehérvár’s budget is not significantly behind that of Ferencváros, although the FTC regularly earns large sums of money from international cup appearances. (The difference between the two budgets is smaller than the allocation that the green and whites receive from UEFA, meaning that the domestic income of Hervar is greater).
Of course, the beggar and the king have a happy ending, as the king returns to his place, and the beggar’s fate turns for the better – this ending would also be good for Hungarian football.
