We’re into the NINTH season of my Football Manager 2021 series, which has taken our manager Shama Deadman on a journey across Europe. Today’s chapter is a very special one for Shama, who at last gets to experience a continental competition for the first time!
Shama has been at Győr for three seasons, in which he has led this Hungarian second-division team to an impressive 3rd-place finish on their top-flight return, as well as a Magyar Kupa Final. You can read more about their successes in the 2027/2028 season review.
Now, though, focus turns towards the 2028/2029 season. In today’s post, we will have a fresh look at the Győr squad and see what business Shama has done as he tries to turn his nearly-men into serious challengers.
We will also find out how Győr get on in their first matches in the Europa Conference League. Yes, it’s basically a glorified Intertoto Cup, but it’s still a European title that most footballers dream about winning! I mean, you can see how delighted Scott Parker was when Newcastle actually won something all those years ago! Just look at his face!
TRANSFER WINDOW
We allowed some of our players to leave. Reserve goalkeeper Béla Fejér was sold to ZTE, who were remarkably relegated from the NB II last season and now play in the third tier! And though he’s not on the list above, the experienced Karlo Muhar was released after serving as a decent backup midfielder for 18 months.
Centre-half Attila Mocsi went to city rivals Gyirmót, who join us in the top flight this season as champions of the NB II. Going the same way was former captain Norbert Kundrák, who was also surplus to requirements. Though we weren’t able to sell Kundrák, Gyirmót agreed to loan him in for the final year of his contract and pay nearly all his wages.
Several other players were loaned out to lower-league clubs, with a couple moving to newly-promoted NB II side Kazincbarcika. Left-winger Aleksandar Beljin (19) made 11 league appearances for us last season, and striker Szilárd Gyürü (18) scored countless goals for the Under-19s, but they both needed regular senior football to progress.
Two of our loanees from last season have rejoined Győr on a permanent basis. The ones who didn’t stay were midfielders Norbert Menyhárt (who returned to MTK) and Marcelo Kanté (who was signed by… you guessed it… Debrecen).
However, we did sign left-winger Norbert László from Honvéd after two years on loan. Yes, the second of those was ruined by a broken leg, but László showed in the first that he was a remarkable creative talent with a very bright future. If the 19-year-old can stay fit this term, £275,000 could look like an absolute bargain.
I was also delighted to have Mario Bratu back on the right wing. The Romanian was sensational in the second half of last season, bagging plenty of goals and wreaking havoc with his dribbling ability.
My biggest summer purchase was £350,000 for 24-year-old ball-playing defender Siniša Tanjga. The former Bologna trainee joins us from Radnički Pirot, where he was one of their best-performing players as they were relegated from Serbia’s top division last season.
We might have missed out on one Russian midfielder last summer, but our pursuit of Vitaly Botvinjev was much more successful. Just to be sure, as soon as we took the 19-year-old ball-winner on trial, we placed the entire training ground under maximum security until Vitaly signed his contract. The last thing we wanted was for that swine Tamás Sandór to go Bielsa on us and nick yet another player for Debrecen!
Our other three signings are also teenagers. Right-back Balázs Gál and Slovenian defensive midfielder Alen Kavčič are both 18 and have decent potential… but the hottest prospect is 17-year-old Slovak Lukas Lesko. The left-footed inverted winger is quick, fairly professional, has very good technique, and could well be challenging for a first-team place pretty soon.
SQUAD REPORT
With those injections of fresh blood and exciting youth, this is how the Győr team looks ahead of the new campaign. So, without further ado, let’s meet our boys in green once again:
George Kovács‘ impact since February has been so incredible that he is now regarded as a “leading NB I” goalie. The young Romanian has excellent agility and ball-handling skills, but he really excels in big matches. Despite starting last season as our first-choice keeper, the experienced Patrik Demjén has to settle for bench-warming duties.
At centre-half, Eduard Ciubotaru and Balázs Hirman are hoping to build on a solid start to their youthful partnership. Ciubotaru has been the more consistent of the two so far, though contract issues have put the Romanian’s long-term future in doubt. Captain Hirman has the occasional hairy moment (particularly with missing key headers or squandering possession) but always plays his heart out for the team.
Summer signing Tanjga will hope to quickly make his mark on the team, either by replacing Ciubotaru as our covering defender or slotting in as a midfield anchor. Américo Pereira remains strong in the air but is simply a backup nowadays. Teenager Dávid Kiss will be our fifth-choice centre-back after a year out on loan, but has he missed his chance to break into the starting XI?
Portuguese left-back Simão Rocha has become part of the Győr furniture after providing 30 assists in three seasons. His incredible drive and technical abilities are vital to this team, especially when going forward. Lubos Petr is a younger, more defensive-minded deputy who has had to wait patiently for his opportunities.
At right-back, we still have Attila Szabados – one of the few survivors from the squad that I took over in 2025. The ultra-determined 25-year-old has been pretty solid in the top flight, but his place has come under pressure from the more technical Răzvan Onea of late.
Gábor Tamás‘ place was under real pressure last summer, but he has made solid progress over the last 12 months. The fearless defensive midfielder has become more consistent and resilient and fully deserves his promotion to vice-captain. I’ve also been consistently impressed with Roland Boros‘ development, and the tough-tackling 18-year-old is now very much part of the senior squad.
Botvinjev is set to become our regular ball-winning midfielder after arriving from Russia. He has a great work ethic, but what really excites me about the former Zenit reserve is his 20 Bravery. I’m pretty sure Vitaly wrestles bears in his spare time!
That means Lars Dendoncker will switch to a box-to-box role, which will allow the hard-working Belgian to make more use of his attacking qualities. Skilful playmaker (and occasional false nine) László Toman has a keen eye for a killer pass but has so far blown hot and cold for Győr.
On the left wing, Norbert László will hope to mark his first season as a permanent Győr player by bouncing back successfully from a potentially career-wrecking injury. Though he’s perhaps lost a bit of pace, his impressive technical skills don’t seem to have been affected too much. The flamboyant Nemanja Jović has his moments of brilliance, while 17-year-old Csaba Katona looks a very exciting prospect on either flank.
Bratu will again battle it out with fellow left-footer János Géringer for our spot on the right-wing. ‘Super Mario’ has the upper hand on experience and technical ability, but János is quicker and can pull a fantastic shot or a stunning cross out of nowhere.
Louie Barry scored 23 goals in 35 matches last season, and I have a feeling that the Englishman was only warming up. A striker with his pace and finishing power will surely be contending for the NB I Golden Boot once again. Cyril Nebo was once our vice-captain and attacking talisman, but the Nigerian has been quite wasteful since promotion and is now battling to even stay in the team.
After overcoming his recent injury woes, 17-year-old Dániel Juhász is hoping that this is his breakout season. Right now, I’m not sure whether to keep Dániel on the first-team fringes or loan him out to a second-tier club. If it’s the latter, that could free up space for 18-year-old Kálmán Hegyi, who’s a clinical finisher himself and has made fine progress at youth level.
I’m using largely the same tactics as in the previous campaign, with a few tweaks. The most significant change to our 4-3-3 is that we now have a box-to-box midfielder instead of an advanced playmaker, which we used early last season. The latter role didn’t really suit a counter-attacking tactic, and the playmaker would often become too isolated from the rest of our midfield while not providing that much service for our attack.
The 4-4-2 is pretty much unchanged, though I will sometimes play an out-and-out winger on the right flank instead of a left-footed inverted winger if I feel we need to stretch play out. I also have a third tactic – a more aggressive 4-2-3-1, which I can use against softer opponents or if we really need a goal late on. I may also push that attacking midfield up to be a ‘false nine’.
Although we usually tend to counter with pace, I also have plans for those games where we need to be a bit more patient with our attacks. For those, I will push up our defensive and engagement lines, turn off the ‘Counter’ instruction, and maybe even turn the mentality up to ‘Positive’.
PRE-SEASON & EUROPA CONFERENCE LEAGUE
We had a very mixed bag of results in pre-season, which included a couple of worrying defeats. The worst was a late home loss at home to Brno, which I used as a mini dress rehearsal for our Europa Conference League tie. (You could probably guess which country our opponents are from.)
A week later, we were beaten 3-2 by second-tier Tatabánya… but that doesn’t even tell half the story! We actually had a shocking 3-0 deficit at half-time, after conceding two goals from corners – and then a third goal that really took the biscuit! I mean… just watch the flippin’ video!
Good job there, Pereira and Demjén! That’s some great defending!
It wasn’t all bad news, though. We trounced three other lower-league teams, scoring 17 goals without reply. Juhász even scored TWO hat-tricks, which either means that the 17-year-old starlet is eager to kickstart his career… or we really needed some tougher pre-season opponents.
Of course, in amongst those friendlies were our opening two matches in the Europa Conference League. We entered the competition at Qualifying Round 2, and we had to get through three rounds to reach the Group Stage. So, who would be our first opponents?
Yikes. As an unseeded team, that was probably one of the toughest draws we could have had. Sparta Praha were THE biggest team in the Czech Republic (despite finishing 2nd to Viktoria Plzeň last season) and had vast European experience. We would do well to avoid a couple of absolute hammerings.
The first leg in Praha was an absolute hammering. It all started going wrong in the 2nd minute, when Ciubotaru broke his toe trying to tackle Sparta’s striker, who then went through on goal and scored anyway. Sparta scored again half an hour later, and then added a third goal from the penalty spot after a clumsy foul from captain Hirman.
After losing 3-0 away, I feared a similar result back at home, especially when Sparta scored another 2nd-minute opener. With nothing left to lose, we came out to attack a bit more in the second half, and Jović even smashed in a Barry centre to get us on the scoresheet.
Sadly, we would’ve needed another four goals to have any hope of staying alive… but at least we had avoided a total whitewash by drawing the second leg. 14 years after Győr last played in Europe, we could finish our short continental journey with our heads held high.
SEASON EXPECTATIONS
Our early exit from the ECL was a disappointment for the board, who’d expected us to get through to at least Qualifying Round 3. But let’s be honest… we were always going to be up against it once the draw was made.
Meeting their expectations for the Magyar Kupa may also be quite difficult. Even though we narrowly lost last year’s Final to Újpest, another deep run – to at least the Quarter Finals, if not beyond – will depend a lot on the luck of the draw. I’m not saying that we’re scared of anyone, though we would obviously rather not be drawn against Újpest again… or the all-conquering Ferencváros, for that matter.
Thankfully, the board have been slightly more reasonable with their expectations for the league. Rather than get carried away by last season’s unexpected 3rd-place finish, they realise that the other teams will take us much more seriously and won’t let us repeat that success without a fight. The chairman will simply be satisfied with a mid-table finish – which is fine by me, though I’ll personally be aiming for top half at least.
I started the summer with a £2.5million transfer budget and still have £1.5million left over, which I’ve kept in reserve just in case we make a poor start and need to fix some glaring weaknesses. I also have more than a third of my wage budget free to play with. As things stand, our £40,000 weekly wage bill is still the lowest in the NB I.
And before I leave you, I just thought I’d let you know that Barry has been tipped to win the NB I Golden Boot, ahead of Újpest’s Togolese goal machine Kévin Denkey. No pressure, Louie…
Has that whetted your appetite for the new season? If it has, then don’t forget that you can stay updated on future posts by hitting the ‘Follow Fuller FM’ button below and/or following me on Twitter @Fuller_FM.
Part 36 will be with you next Monday, when we will recap the first half of the 2028/2029 campaign. Their European adventure might have ended early, but can they use the experience to mount an early title challenge back home?
Thanks for reading!
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