The 2027/2028 season has finished, and it’s been an incredible campaign that Győr fans will never forget!
In their first season back in Hungary’s top division, Shama Deadman’s side built on a strong start and secured an unexpected 3rd-place finish – and a spot in the Europa Conference League next term! They also made it through to the Final of the Magyar Kupa, which you can read about here if you haven’t caught up yet.
In today’s season review, where we will look back on a magnificent nine-and-a-half months. He will then have to decide whether to extend his stay in Hungary… or look for a bigger job elsewhere.
2027/2028 SEASON REVIEW
Well, then! For our first season back in the top flight, we were expected to fight bravely against relegation. Seeing as we finished 27 points clear of the bottom two AND qualified for the Europa Conference League, I guess you could say we succeeded!
Indeed, we were never in danger of going down – only falling as low as 6th in mid-August, and then again in late November. A fantastic 11-match unbeaten league run after the mid-season break propelled us into the European spots, and despite a few late wobbles, we snatched 3rd place from Debrecen on the final day.
We also enjoyed a magnificent run to the Magyar Kupa Final, beating Kisvárda on penalties to set up a date with league runners-up Újpest. We led 1-0 at the break before Újpest’s greater class turned the game in their favour, though we could still be proud about our efforts.
And we’ve achieved all that using the defensively-solid, counter-attacking style of football that the board specifically asked me for last summer. The chairman is disappointed that we didn’t go full-on direct, but I guess he has to find one thing to complain about!
Mind you, I’ve got a feeling that these tactics might not be as effective next season. Most of our divisional rivals seemed to take us lightly and weren’t wise to our quick counters. I’m now expecting them to take us a lot more seriously and pay more attention to their defences. ‘Second-season syndrome’ is very real, and it’s something we’ll want to avoid.
| Fans’ Player of the Season | Louie Barry |
| Young Player of the Season | Louie Barry |
| Signing of the Season | Patrik Demjén |
| Goal of the Season | Mario Bratu (vs Diósgyőr, 19 February) |
| Top Goalscorer | Louie Barry (23) |
| Most Assists | Simão Rocha (10) |
| Most Player of the Match Awards | Simão Rocha (5) |
| Highest Average Rating | Louie Barry (7.21) |
Louie Barry was the star of our season, scoring 18 league goals after his £230,000 arrival from Plymouth. Barry might have failed to fulfil his huge potential back in England, but the 24-year-old has taken the Hungarian league by storm – falling just one goal short of the Golden Boot.
Whether as an advanced forward, or even as a right-winger on occasion, Louie’s pace and finishing technique often proved a deadly combination. He did get wasteful every now and then, particularly when he headed over a clear chance to put us 2-0 up in the Kupa Final, but I don’t know where we would be without him.
Right-winger Mario Bratu was our next-top scorer, netting EIGHT of his NINE goals during a stretch of nine league games after the winter break. János Géringer (7 goals) and Cyril Nebo (8 goals) also had decent seasons, despite underperforming compared to their xG. While Géringer is only 20 and may eventually become a prolific top-flight winger, Nebo is 28 and may struggle to regain a regular starting place up front.
Simão Rocha was our leading assister again, setting up 10 goals. The Portuguese left-back has not enjoyed the same consistency that he did in the NB II, but he’s still one of our most important players. Ball-winning midfielder Lars Dendoncker has also settled nicely into the top flight, even upping his productivity with five goals and four assists.
When it came to our goalkeepers, it was an unusual season of two halves. The experienced Patrik Demjén started the campaign as our number 1, making very few mistakes as he put in some consistently solid performances. Indeed, Pat did so well that he was named as the NB I’s best goalkeeper for 2027/2028.
But then in February, after some initial teething problems, Romanian youngster George Kovács finally got the chance to make his name. He took it with both hands, producing five consecutive clean sheets as his superior aerial and shotstopping abilities ousted Demjén. Kovács had the league’s best save ratio of 82% and was particularly impressive in big matches. At 23, he’ll surely only get better and will take some shifting.
The goalies were arguably the biggest reasons why we conceded only 32 league goals – fewer than any other team except champions Ferencváros. Our defenders’ performances were decent if not amazing, though there was one clear weak link. Worryingly, that man was our new captain – centre-back Balázs Hirman, whose average rating of 6.72 stuck out like a sore thumb.
Admittedly, Hirman is only 22 and still has plenty of room to improve, particularly on his composure and his decision-making. I still believe he’ll come good, but in the meantime, it might make sense to sign a more experienced stopper to partner 21-year-old covering defender Eduard Ciubotaru, who has shown greater resilience than his fellow youngster.
At any rate, our defensive transformation over the past 12 months has been astonishing. In terms of our opposition shot conversion rate, we’ve gone from having the WORST defence in the NB II… to having the BEST in the NB I! In fact, we were the only team in the top flight to concede fewer than 10% of our opponents’ chances.
Mind you, there is always something to work on. Set-pieces remains a problem, as we conceded seven goals from indirect free-kicks, while only scoring from three of our own.
Perhaps I could try asking Tony Pulis to come out of retirement and work on our set-pieces. He might also help us implement the no-frills direct football that the chairman wants. Talk about killing two birds with one stone…
PLAYER-BY-PLAYER STATISTICS
SHOULD I STAY…
Now I’ve got a big decision to make. After three largely successful years at Győr, should I sign a new contract to continue this project… or is it time to pursue a new challenge?
There are some compelling reasons to keep going, and try to turn this team into perennial challengers – maybe even champions. The board have added another £20,000 per week to my wage budget, and given me close to £3million to spend on new players.
I won’t be going on a large spending spree, though. Apart from a handful of new faces in defence and midfield, there isn’t that much I want to change about a squad which has already lit up the top flight. I’m also encouraged by the progress made by some of our finest young players.
Ciubotaru has matured at centre-back as the season has gone on. The Romanian was already pretty strong mentally (you have to be if you want to recover from back-to-back relegations with different clubs) but is now very much at home in top-flight football. This kid’s got a bright future.
I’m also quite excited about Roland Boros – the diminutive ball-winning midfielder who has worked hard on his defensive and physical abilities over the past 12 months. Having made four league appearances last season and eight in this, Roland is now ready to be fully integrated into the senior squad.
I gave Aleksandar Beljin plenty of chances at left wing, and while he hasn’t done too badly, his lack of creativity or ambition is holding him back. 17-year-old Csaba Katona has jumped the queue following an impressive season at youth level. A match-winning performance against Mezőkövesd in May suggests that this flamboyant, rapid wingman can handle the step up to playing more senior football.
Géringer has been reasonably productive on right-wing, though his development has slowed lately, and his lack of natural fitness or killer instinct may stop him from progressing much further. I also have major concerns about Dániel Juhász, who has had another injury-blighted season and only played eight senior matches. There’s still plenty of time for the striker to rebuild his lost technical skills, but he really needs to toughen up first.
To push our best prospects up to the next level, we’ve invested a good £2million in upgrading our facilities this year. We’ve already finished upgrading our youth facilities, and now work has begun on improving our training ground from ‘Adequate’ to ‘Average’, which should be completed by November.
Realistically, we’re probably not going to enjoy another easy(ish) ride to European qualification next year. A season of stability would be fine by me, and I’d be quite happy with another top-half finish. Are you with me on that, fellas?
[Sigh. Never change, Football Manager…]
…OR SHOULD I GO?
This is the first time I have completed three full seasons at a club. I’ve taken Győr up from mid-table mediocrity in the NB II to become the 3rd-best team in Hungary, and while I’m happy to continue building this club up, I’m also aware that my stock as a manager has never been higher.
I’ve been at this stage before – four years ago, when Espinho were almost promoted from the Terceira Liga. I probably could’ve left Portugal then and taken a bigger job elsewhere, but I signed a new contract to try and get the Tigres promoted.
In case you don’t remember, the gamble backfired. In chasing promotion, I changed too much of my squad too quickly, destroying team chemistry as Espinho slipped into a relegation battle… and forcing me to take a sideways step to Győr.
I don’t want to take a sideways step now. My reputation is now at 50% (or 2.5 stars), which actually makes me the second-most reputable manager in Hungary, just behind Ferencváros’ Attila Supka.
I got the Espinho when my reputation was 1 full star lower than the club’s. With that in mind, I wasn’t going to leave Győr until I got offered a job from a 3.5* club in a similarly prestigious league (i.e. not the ‘Big Five’).
There were five teams that met my criteria and were looking for new managers. One of them was Celtic, who’d been runners-up to Rangers in the last three Scottish Premiership seasons. However, I didn’t want to be drawn into all the ugly sectarian bitterness that comes with the Old Firm rivalry, so I stayed clear of them. That left four clubs on my radar…
Beşiktaş responded to my application first, but they rejected it because I’d never won a trophy. Fair enough. I had to wait a few more days before KRC Genk politely turned me down as well. They would later give the job to some fella named Vincent Kompany.
PAOK Salonika had won four consecutive Greek Superleague titles before losing their crown to AEK Athens this season… probably because they had Kepa Arrizabalaga in goal, to be fair. I would’ve been very interested in taking PAOK back to the top, but they also had concerns about my lack of trophies.
As for St Gallen… it’s been over four weeks now and I’ve still not heard back from them. I guess the Swiss mail system isn’t as robust or reliable as their clocks.
So that’s four jobs applied for, and none of them even went so far as an interview. I guess going for a 3.5* job after one top-flight season was a little too ambitious. Well, in that case…
…I might as well stay in Hungary for a bit longer! Holding off on renewing my contract in the spring had paid off, as the Győr board were now happy to give me a three-year contract with a 50% pay rise – from £2,200 per week to £3,300!
But before I start planning for the new season, I thought I’d update you on my previous clubs. Cambrian & Clydach had a fantastic campaign and won the Cymru South by some distance, meaning they’ll return to the Cymru Premier for the first time since 2023/2024. No such luck for Espinho, who’ve had another solid top-half finish in the Terceira Liga but just cannot take that next step into the Segunda.
After struggling for seven years in the lower leagues of Wales, Portugal and Hungary, it seems Shama has taken to top-flight football like a duck to water! And now he has his first taste of European competition to look forward to!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this recap of the 2027/2028 campaign. I’ll be back on Monday with the 2028/2029 season preview, which will also include Győr’s first matches in the Europa Conference League!
Thanks for reading!
Fuller FM 
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