It’s lights out and away we go for Shama Deadman’s seventh season as a football manager!
Shama’s first year with Győr ended with his new team missed out on promotion to Hungary’s top division by just six points. During the summer break, he has brought in some fresh faces and rebuilt his tactics, which you can read about in Part 26.
Today’s chapter will take us through the first three months of the 2026/2027 NB II campaign, as Győr look to race into an early lead. But of course, with Shama at the wheel, there’s always the chance they could spin out of control and crash!
AUGUST 2026
After a dire opening-day stalemate at Budaörs, we got our campaign up and running by winning our first home fixture against Soroksár. Despite utterly dominating our opponents and having a dozen shots on target, we only managed a couple of goals – a quick first-half salvo from right-winger Bálint Szabó and striker Norbert Kundrák.
Captain Kundrák scored another early(ish) goal at Szeged-GA, only for the hosts to quickly cancel it out from their first real attack. After giving the team some harsh words at half-time, though, we turned on the style in the second half and romped to a 3-1 win. This was the free-kick from 17-year-old winger Norbert László that gave us the lead for a second time.
We then packed in another two-goal win, seeing off Paks to move up to 3rd place. László came off the bench to set up the second goal for striker Cyril Nebo, after Bálint Szabó had opened the scoring. Sadly, Bálint then strained a hamstring and was ruled out for three weeks, while left-winger Ervin Taha faced a lengthier absence with a partial ACL tear.
Our youngsters then stole the show as we survived a scare to beat Szentlőrinc 3-1. 19-year-old defender Tibor Fehér headed in just his second league goal to give us the lead just before half-time. In the second half, I gave debuts to a couple of 15-year-olds – left-winger Róbert Nagy, and striker Dániel Juhász, who secured victory with this 94th-minute finish!
What a dream debut!
Our last visit to Pécs in April ended in a three-goal thrashing, and that happened again… but this time, we were giving out the beating! 2-0 up after five minutes, 3-0 after 15 minutes, 4-0 at half-time! We then got very careless in the second period and conceded twice, but Kundrák kept a cool head and put the game beyond doubt with his fourth goal in five matches.
After five wins in a row, though, the run came to an end at Kazincbarcika. Nebo and Kundrák were unusually wasteful against our newly-promoted hosts at the Pete András Stadion, which was sadly NOT named after this guy:
While we couldn’t find that mysterious goal, we were still the flava of the month as August came to an end. Still unbeaten in seven league matches this season (11 in total), and with only ZTE and Debrecen ahead of us. THIS IS INSANIA!
SEPTEMBER 2026
You might have noticed that János Géringer had been pretty quiet in August. Our teenage right-winger hadn’t yet found his feet after a pre-season injury, and his wait for a first goal or assist continued at home to Kecskeméti – his boyhood club, and where he started his career.
For a long time, it looked like we would drop points against another promoted side. With the scores level at 1-1, Juhász came off the bench for his second appearance… and then scored his second goal with three minutes remaining to secure the victory! This boy’s a bit special!
Our next home game was also a struggle. We only managed to beat Nyíregyháza by a single 39th-minute penalty from Nebo, which just went in off the post. Several opportunities to boost our lead went begging, and we could’ve been punished had ‘Szpari’ not had a player sent off midway through the second half. Despite that, a 1-0 win was enough to take us to the top of the table!
Three days later, we were back to our scintillating best, racing into a 5-0 half-time lead over Ajka! Nebo scored a hat-trick inside 28 minutes, while Géringer and Rocha got their first goals of the season. Of course, we then eased off after the break and Ajka scored a late consolation, but it didn’t matter.
That was followed by another five-star performance, this time making light work of fourth-tier PVSK in the first round of this season’s Magyar Kupa. Juhász bagged a brace, as did our Montenegrin loanee Goran Todorović, but it was Bálint Szabó who stole the show with one goal and three assists! Bálint’s contract expires next summer, and I reckon he might be after an extension!
Of course, it was all well and good starting the season with an 11-game unbeaten run, but we hadn’t yet faced any particularly strong teams. September ended with our first major test, as we went to Zalaegerszeg – the home of ZTE, who were chasing an immediate return to the NB I after relegation.
As expected, we were pushed like never before, and it was ZTE who led at the break through a header from Soma Novothny. Incredibly, that was the ex-Napoli striker’s 11th league goal already this season – four more than Nebo!
I stuck to our usual gameplan for the second half but reminded the players of the higher standards that were now expected of them. They responded by producing a stunning 11 minutes of football, in which Kundrák scored twice and László headed in a Rocha corner to stun the hosts!
A 3-1 away win over one of the title favourites showed that this fantastic start wasn’t just beginner’s luck. We were serious contenders, especially as we now had a three-point lead at the top!
OCTOBER 2026
Though the transfer window was now closed, we were still being offered free agents. This probably shouldn’t surprise you, but I was very happy with my squad and certainly didn’t need any more playmakers! Anyway, I suspect this fella might be better at tennis than football!
We weren’t quite so ace in October. There were a few more faults, plus a few signs of cockiness in our next two home games against teams way below us in the standings.
Nebo gave us an early lead against Dorog before having a penalty saved, but after a Mocsi header later in the first half put us 2-0 up, the game looked secure. That was until our defence dozed off and let in a point-blank header in the 73rd minute, leading to a nervy finish before we finally saw the game out.
With our main creative force László away on Hungary Under-21s duty, we toiled to another narrow win over mid-table Sényő. We needed goals in either half from Nebo (who was now on 10 for the season) to get the job done. Despite making it seven wins in a row, our last few performances had been very poor, so I tried to shake any complacency out of us before a couple of tricky away fixtures.
At first, my harsh words looked to have done the trick. Nebo scored another two goals in the first six minutes at Vasas, but then wasted another penalty which could’ve put the game to bed before half-time. Though Kundrák did put us 3-1 ahead early in the second period, we then made three costly mistakes that would cost us two valuable points:
- 51st minute: Goalkeeper Svetoslav Vutsov misjudges the flight of a floating Vasas free-kick, and is easily beaten by a close-range volley as we’re pegged back to 3-2.
- 71st minute: Holding midfielder Gábor Tamás loses his head and tackles an opponent from behind with both feet. The 20-year-old is sent off, and we’re down to 10 men.
- 84th minute: Right-back Attila Szabados cheaply throws the ball away in the hosts’ half. The ball is then pumped forward to Vasas’ striker, who dribbles past our centre-backs and fires in a powerful shot that Vutsov probably could’ve saved. 3-3.
Despite Vasas’ dominance in the closing stages, we somehow managed to hold onto a draw. That being said, I now had serious doubts about Vutsov, who’d conceded seven goals in his last five league matches and was becoming a bit of a liability.
I gave a league debut to our backup keeper Béla Fejér for the biggest match of our season – away to title favourites Debrecen, who would leapfrog us into top spot if they won. This was a very scrappy contest, as we had five players booked and survived several scares… until this happened in stoppage time.
Urgh, what a time for the defence to fall apart! With that, we lost our grip on top spot – and our unbeaten record. However, we were still in a pretty healthy position after 15 games, sitting seven points clear in the promotion places.
It didn’t take long to put the Debrecen heartbreaker behind us. We cruised through Round 2 of the Magyar Kupa, with an early brace from Kundrák sending us on our way to thrashing third-tier Cegléd. This match also saw 15-year-old Róbert Nagy score his first competitive goal, giving him the perfect excuse for taking the afternoon off school!
Round 3 was as far as we got last season before losing to Újpest in extra-time. We will face top-flight opposition at this round again in January, but we might stand a better chance at home to Budafok, who are currently bottom of the NB I. Let’s not get too excited, though, because a lot can still change in the next three months!
I mean… surely we cannot keep this relentless attacking game up throughout the season, right? SURELY?
And that’s it for another chapter! Győr have made a flying start, but can they consolidate their top-two place over the winter months, or will they fall off the pace? Come back on Friday for the next installment of Shama’s journey!
Thanks for reading!
P.S. We’re still proud of you, Bukayo.
Fuller FM 
You must be logged in to post a comment.