Hungarian football owes Marco Rossi to him, he has now told what the Szoboszlais can do at the European Championships

In an interview with the M1 channel, the 72-year-old businessman stated that the bar should not be set too high for the national team, because according to him, the fact that the team made it to the European Championship is already a success.

“This team is capable of beating certain opponents, and I am sure that the European Championship will be fair, the national team will achieve a decent result, but there is no need to envision a European title” Hemingway declared.

The businessman who managed the Kispest club between 2006 and 2019 (during which time Marco Rossi was twice the head coach of the Honvéd) said that he does not deal with football in general, but follows Hungarian football and primarily the Honvéd.

I was in it for thirteen years, it’s natural that I have thoughts. I hope that the Honvéd will not have problems with relegation in the second division, but the current owners hired incompetent, useless, incompetent people, so a downward spiral began, which they could no longer stop, said Hemingway, who said that “it speaks for itself” that the at the Kispest club, how many head coaches have changed since the sale in 2019.

If you want to manage a football club, you can do it in two ways: one is to learn the profession and surround yourself with good people, it took me three years. The other is that the owner is just celebrating himself and hiring competent people, they bring the profession. There is no third way. The current owners chose the second way, but they hired the wrong people for professional positions, he stated.

According to Hemigway, two conditions must be met for the Honvéd to return to the top: a very competent, first-class head coach, as well as four key players, including an inside defender and a striker, and two attacking midfielders.

“The base is good, this young team can be very good, but the four football players I mentioned cannot be obtained from Hungary, so they would have to be confirmed from abroad. This means that the owner waives the support from the Hungarian association, so it would be possible to return to NB I with the team in roughly two years. Next season, it will not be easy to stay in the second division, as there will be a Szeged, a Mezőkövesd, a Kisvárda, as well as either Vasas or Győr, and they will all equally want to get to the top” – said Hemingway, who believes that you cannot get into the first class with only children.

“The Honvéd has a great fan base, even now there are usually two thousand people, in the NB I, four to five thousand people would certainly gather for every match. If the promotion is successful, then within two or three years from then there will be a pure Hungarian Football Academy team with one or two foreigners, such as Lanzafame, who was worth bringing herei”, said the businessman. He added that whoever joins the Honvéd as an owner must undertake a serious investment, as the club also has debts, and in order to get to the top, the MLSZ support must be waived. He said: if someone wants to learn club management, they should go to Paks, because they do it well there.

Hemingway recalled that he previously supported the reduction of the number of NB I from 16 to 12 teams, but now he would consider it good if 18 teams were in the Hungarian top flight.

“There is money, but of course it is not properly distributed now. If neither team were favored, there would be enough money to maintain an 18-team first division. In addition to all this, the number of legionnaires should be maximized at three, and young people from the academies should be allowed to play, so the national team would also be strengthened in a 5-10 year period, because the young footballers would play in NB I and there would be a serious championship. Of course, if there is no team to which all the money is directed, there would be no results in international cups for two or three years, but later on, three or four clubs could achieve the same results” explained the businessman. He emphasized that it is important for Hungarian football that Szeged, Győr, Nyíregyháza, Pécs, Honvéd and Vasas also appear in the NB I, and that should be the goal at the moment, just like ten years ago other goals were formulated. Speaking about the Hungarian national team, he also stated: in order for the team to move up in the world rankings, they must follow this strategy.

Hemingway said that the more talented Hungarian footballers go abroad, the better, because in his opinion, this does not weaken domestic football.

He thought about Marco Rossi, the Italian coach was a good professional from the beginning, besides, he was also a good person and he was able to get other good people on his side.

“There are many coaches who represent a high professional standard, but are clumsy, out of character, or have no character. Rossi is not like that, and he also learned a lot at the Honvéd, thanks to which he became an effective professional” he declared.