OTP Bank Liga 2023/2024

Balázs Makray: We are not far from our goals

In 2023, DVSC has performed exceptionally well so far, securing a bronze medal in the championship, earning the right to participate in international cups, and starting the current competition strongly, basically without any setbacks. However, our team lost the last three games in the championship, which was not usual in the previous period. Managing director of DVSC, Balázs Makray analysed the situation.

“A defeat never comes at the right time, not to speak about three in a row. Despite this fact, we stick to what we’ve said earlier and our official communication is always the same since our new owner has arived. Namely: this is a construction process and now we are probably in the middle of it. There aren’t any setbacks in this project. The previous season was wonderful, we deserved the bronze medal but maybe it was a little bit unexpected. We have never said or will say that our team is the champion. We claim that we are going through a process of development, the aim of which is to earn the right to participate in international cups every year. Perhaps, our goals changed concerning the fact that last year we were fighting to avoid relegation, while now we are setting some higher aims with our present squad and technical staff. This is basically to be among the top 6 teams and to perform as well in the Hungarian Cup as we can. We are not far from achieving our goals as it is obvious that we are far from the relegation zone, we are among the top teams on the table and we have 5 points more than what we had during this time of the championship last year. If you’re a bit familiar with the Hungarian championship, consisting of 12 teams, you exactly know that almost anyone can beat anyone anywhere within the OTP Bank Liga. Sometimes you win three games in a row, sometimes you lose three. We have experienced both in this season”, said Balázs Makray. The managing director also talked about the factors that influence our performance.

“The most important thing is to be aware of our knowledge, our situation, our goals, to concentrate on the main tasks and do everything for the club, the supporters and ourselves as well. The previous week was not the most successful for us but we cannot say that the players didn’t do everything. The technical staff constantly analyses the data, based on which it is revealed that our guys put maximum effort not only against Újpest. We have to face some barriers that were not present during the last season. I’m referring to injuries, and currently, important players have fallen out of the line-up, making their replacement the most challenging since there have been times when we filled in for those who got injured with the players who are currently missing. It is a problem for us as we cannot count on centre-backs, defending midfielders and earlier, János Ferenczi was also injured. The good news is that sooner or later everybody will be back on track. Outsiders can also sense that there are some factors that we cannot influence and recently, we haven’t been the ones who benefitted from these situations. Just as we want consistency from ourselves, we also want to ask for consistency from others in every round. In our recent matches, there were some same situations, in which not the same decisions were made. In both cases, these decisions had a determining impact on the outcome of the match and unfortunately, not for our advantage. Regardless of the results during the last week, the management and the owner of the club have full trust both in the team and the staff, which was reassured by our president towards the squad and the staff before the game against Újpest. What concerns the future, we are disciplined and hopeful too. It is a long-term process, there are some ups and downs but neither the road nor the championship is over yet. The result of any championship does not get decided in the 8th round. We would like to thank our fans for their devoted support. In the game against Újpest, they were our 12th or basically 11th player! We respectfully ask our fans once again to continue loving this team with such passion. From our side, we are devoted to continue the development of this club, we believe that this process is positive and DVSC is on its way to the place that it deserves to be at”, said Balázs Makray.