Ferenc's Legacy (FM 15)

[Greyfriars Bobby]

Hi again, everyone.

My kids enjoy giving me books for Christmas. One of this year's gifts was The Names Heard Long Ago, by Jonathan Wilson. This book tells the story of the influence of Hungarian football (soccer) on the development of the sport. I've started reading it, and so far, I'm enjoying it.

Wilson's book also got me interested in the idea of playing a Football Manager career in Hungary. I've almost always chosen the British Isles or Scandinavia for my FM careers, so a trip to Eastern Europe would be a new experience. I fired up my copy of good old Football Manager 15, and off to Hungary I went.

I usually don't pick my team very quickly. Rather, I spend a good half hour or more looking at different clubs, checking out their facilities, their history, even their badges and kit colors. Any of those factors can draw me to a team, or away from it.

This time, a club caught my eye immediately.

One of the few Hungarian footballers I'd heard of before I began reading Wilson's book was Ferenc Puskás, who starred for the "Mighty Magyars," the outstanding Hungarian national team of the 1950s and later for Real Madrid. When I noticed a team called Puskás Ferenc Labdarugó Akadémia, I was immediately intrigued.

According to its FM 15 profile, Puskás Akadémia, as it's usually called, was founded in 2012 as a memorial to Puskás, who died in 2006. They play in the First Division, the highest league in Hungary.

Looking deeper, it appears that Puskás Akadémia was founded for another reason, too. In 2015, it serves as a feeder club/academy for Videoton...another club in the same division! Videoton loans players to Puskás Akadémia, and they have the first option to buy players Puskás Akadémia want to sell. This relationship is interesting, to say the least. It has the potential to maddening and game-breaking, but we'll see how it goes.

When I looked at the club's Wikipedia page, I learned a few more interesting facts. Puskás Akadémia play in a tiny village called Felcsút. Its shiny new stadium, called Pancho Aréna, has a seating capacity twice as big (3500) as the village's population (1688). Felcsút is the home town of Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orbán, who is apparently a passionate football fan. It's no accident, then, that a gorgeous stadium and a football club to fill it popped up in the town Orbán grew up in.

Someone trolled Puskás Akadémia hard on its Wikipedia page. According to the author, the club is largely disliked for its ties to Orbán, the leader of a national conservative political party. Rather than serving as an "academy" that develops young talent, it relies on older Hungarian players and foreigners. Its supporters don't travel to away matches. And, the Wikipedia contributor disputes its connections to Ferenc Puskás, who supposedly never visited the village of Felcsút.

When I learned these things about the club, I initially thought about looking elsewhere. Then I decided to accept the challenge of making Puskás Akadémia a club Hungarians might enjoy supporting, a club that developed a hard-working team with players their fans could get behind.

The kind of club that would make Ferenc Puskás proud.


Notes:

• I thought about using real players, since the real Puskás is the inspiration for the story. I decided to use "fake" ones instead, so my football world is my own.
• I'm continuing my St Andrews story, too. Now, if my interest in one game starts to fade, I'll have another to enjoy.