Time In Football

What do you want from life?

Puskas: „- Oh, everything has been beautiful to this day! If I started it all over again, I would be a football player again. It would be nice to continue living happily and healthily. Because the reaper is coming for us all too soon. Man, I will also be on a great team “up there.” Karcsi Zsák, Gyuri Orth, Bozsik Cucu… oh, and Slozi can still play inside-left, I’ll take the left wing for his sake. My boy, up there the one who arrives last will always be the team captain.

But mind you, up there I can see everything, so behave yourselves, Hungarians…”

Ferenc Puskas

Pancho

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30 years
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The spirit and origin of sport

When people had some free time, they started playing right away. These developed first into running and fighting games and then into ball games. Ball games are almost the same age as humans and actually accompany you throughout your life. There is no discrimination, everyone has an equal chance of being successful and proving their worth.

Sport has a serious communal idea:

it is about equality that everyone is subject to the same laws and rules. The battlefield appears in sport, which is always widening and thus will affect the lives of all people and society as a whole. Sport is self-expression, self-realization and this endeavor has been constantly growing and growing since the beginning of historical times, and today, with the intense spread of sport, it almost floods the bodily world of civilized humanity.

What is our book about?

Important topics

COACH'S TREE

The coaching tree needs to grow. The use of a defensive line is the solution for the football of the future.

COACH'S TREE

The basis of our book, the coaching tree, where our football came from and where it is going...
Read more

H. JOHANNES CRUYFF

From instinct to awareness
(recognition of the laws of football)

H. JOHANNES CRUYFF

From instinct to consciousness: in the first part of our book, in the chapter "From instinct to consciousness", we write about the thinking and philosophy of Hendrik Johannes Cruyff. This is the starting point and foundation of our whole thinking.
Read more

THE GROUND

You can only learn to play football by playing. On the field, a young child can develop his or her innate talent.

THE GROUND

You can only learn to play football by playing. On the field, a young child can develop his or her innate talent.
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THE IMPORTANCE OF TIME

In sport, the battle against time is about using the shortest possible time to execute movements.

THE IMPORTANCE OF TIME

In sport, the battle against time is about using the shortest possible time to execute movements.
Read more

THE ROLE OF BALANCE

Most people don't realise how important it is to maintain balance in football.

THE ROLE OF BALANCE

Most people don't realise how important it is to maintain balance in football.
Read more

CREATIVITY

Football is a team sport, which is why it's essential to have the right harmony between players.

CREATIVITY

Football is a team sport, which is why it's essential to have the right harmony between players.
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LINE OF DEFENSE

One of the most important tactical ideas in offensive management is the conscious exploitation of the defensive line "pulled" by the opponent's players.

LINE OF DEFENSE

One of the most important tactical ideas in offensive management is the conscious exploitation of the defensive line "pulled" by the opponent's players.
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TEQBALL

TEQBALL

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DECISION-MAKING ABILITY

In football, as in life, timing and quick and accurate decision-making are crucial to gaining a significant advantage.

DECISION-MAKING ABILITY

In football, as in life, timing and quick and accurate decision-making are crucial to gaining a significant advantage.
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FUTSAL / FOOTBALL

We wrote several books about futsal before I realised that we had always written about football in our training thoughts.

FUTSAL / FOOTBALL

We wrote several books about futsal before I realised that we had always written about football in our training thoughts.
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PICTURES FROM THE BOOK

PICTURES FROM THE BOOK

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POSITION OF THE BALL

Just as the Sun is the centre of the solar system in the heliocentric model, we think of the ball as the centre of football.

POSITION OF THE BALL

Just as the Sun is the centre of the solar system in the heliocentric model, we think of the ball as the centre of football.
Read more

RECOMMENDATIONS

Javier Lozano

Javier Lozano

Claudio Vivas

Claudio Vivas

Carles Cuadrat

Carles Cuadrat

Hornyák Zsolt

Hornyák Zsolt

Lajos Détári

Détári Lajos

Tibor Sisa

Sisa Tibor

Marco Rossi

Marco Rossi

Puskás Ferenc

Puskás Ferenc

Miquel Puig

La Masia igazgató
La Masia igazgató

Tóth Zele

Tóth Zele

Bognár György

Bognár György

Bozsik Péter

Bozsik Péter

Take a look inside our book!

Take a look inside our book!

Andras Berndt / Janos Kis

About the authors

“I never wanted to be a coach, I’ve always been a footballer, a child of grund, I don’t know why I went for the lowest ‘D’ licence at the time, thirty years ago. Just because of the compulsory paper? I don’t know, but it wasn’t in my life to be a football coach. Now in the present, in hindsight, is it worth summing up for myself who and what I am? Am I not writing it right, because I have to describe who I became? …and did I want to change anything in my life because of that in hindsight?”

Janos Kis

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Years of
experience
in the world of football

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Innovation in football

Discover the knowledge that has been built up over 30 years of work and no one has ever written it down!

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Time is the key

Most people don't even realise the importance of time, but just like in real life, it is the basis of everything.

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The most intelligent game

Winning is not about muscle or strength. It's mostly a game of wits, where whoever is ultimately smarter wins.

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Readers Reviews

the most inspiring feedback from our readers…

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When I die and you’re born again, I want to be a footballer again. And Diego Armando Maradona again. I’m a player who has brought joy to people, and that’s enough for me.

Diego Maradona
labdarúgó
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Football taught me how to win, it taught me how to lose, and it taught me that joy overcomes sorrow, and that a goal is happiness, the cure for all the missed opportunities.

Fehér Miklós
labdarúgó
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The players who win the game are the ones who watch the pitch, not the ones who can’t take their eyes off the scoreboard.

Carles Puyol
labdarúgó

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    Time in football readers around the world

    COACH'S TREE

    The basis of our book, the coaching tree, where our football came from and where it is going...

    H. JOHANNES CRUYFF

    From instinct to consciousness: in the first part of our book, in the chapter "From instinct to consciousness", we write about the thinking and philosophy of Hendrik Johannes Cruyff. This is the starting point and foundation of our whole thinking.

    The Church of Cruyff

    Forever Spreading the Football Gospel: https://thelab.bleacherreport.com/the-church-of-cruyff/

    VIDEOS

    THE GROUND

    What is the Hungarian grund?

    In towns and cities it is the name given to the undeveloped land between houses and apartment blocks. They were always popular playgrounds for the children of the neighbourhood, where they could play football and war. In those days, the grund played a particularly important role. It not only taught the game, it also educated. To win, to be a good sport, to respect your elders, to honour each other and the game and, let's face it, to work. For in many families, a child could only go downstairs to play if he had done his homework honestly. Grund represented a special "Hungarian football" culture. You could say it was a Central European culture at the time. Knowledge was handed down from generation to generation, children were 'developed and educated on the streets'.

    "The ground was not just a playing field...it was much more than that, a field of honour..."
    (Ferenc Molnár: The Boys of Pál Street, excerpts)

    The importance of time

    Ernő Szemző, a Hungarian thinker living in the early 1900s, published his work The World of Sport in
    1930. His writing confirms and gives faith that if our starting point is the spirit of sport, certain
    principles also appear in its practical reality.

    The importance of time
    Human beings constantly fight against time: we struggle for overcoming, dominating, and using time.

    In the world of sport, the fight against time practically entails the execution of movements in the
    shortest time possible. Improving the technique of movement aims to shorten the time of execution,
    which is a means to beat the opponent.

    The importance of time

    Contemporary football training is effective when players can perform their technical and tactical
    actions in the shortest time possible. The more accurate and correct the execution of the move, the
    more time the player will have to perform the next technical or tactical element required. The player
    who abides by the principles of football will dominate the match because they will thus control time,
    the most important aspect of football, and life in general. By controlling time, we can influence any
    other factor of the game: for example, we can gain territory, we will have more time for an accurate
    pass or shot, and so on.

    We are convinced that we can identify time as the very factor of football
    with which we may formulate such groundbreaking formulas as Einstein did when he figured out E = mc².

    But since time can always be interpreted only in conjunction with some observed change, which
    can amount to an infinite number of possibilities in football (just think of the number of variations in
    the position of 22 players on the field in a particular unit of time), it is virtually impossible to define
    time in football by virtue of a physical formula.

    The relationship between time and sport

    Conquering time! The importance of time. Time is money, as the saying goes. But not only that: it is
    much more. Time may also mean life, so in training the coach gives both his time and life to his
    players, which, in turn, affects the time and life of the players. A coach must use both and not abuse
    either.

    THE BALANCE

    And now we have the most important recognition in our present life, our future and our football: the need to find BALANCE. The theme and exploration of balance is one of the key elements in our new ideas that provide the foundation of our philosophy. Balance is key because according to the physical principles, balance is the foundation of the universe, life, and finally, football itself.

    What are situations of balance in football?

    Whenever we try to create balance, we want to achieve the optimal level of a given state. In what situations can we do this? First with the team, then in a number of other areas that we will discuss later. Before a more detailed explanation, it is important to note that balance has no positive or negative pole; it does not sway either to the right or the left.

    “You either have balance or you don’t.”

    The balance between the coach and the team

    The balance level of coaches who keep training themselves will be higher than average. Of course, every coach has a different balance level depending on how diligent they are, how they think and what abilities they have.

    This book may still be useful for them, too, as every coach can learn from another. It is vital for us as people and as coaches to be distinctive and have a coaching style that sets us apart from the others. The most valuable asset ​of our football is coaches who can introduce an independent way of thinking and a new style that is unique to them.

    Disturbances in balance

    The balance of a team may be disrupted by many internal and external factors, in which case we can speak of a situation of imbalance, a disruption of balance. These factors primarily include the following:

    • Professional staff, professional work
    • Injury
    • Individual mistakes
    • The opponent’s performance
    • Team play
    • Team sections
    • Game reading ability
    • Substitutes, bench line-up, team roster
    • Referee (send-offs, yellow cards)
    • Weather

    THE CREATIVITY

    Creativity manifests itself in divergent (no single right answer) thinking. Divergent thinking tasks have multiple solutions at the same time. Creativity can be expressed in choosing the best of alternatives or options.
    (Guilford)

    Here Guilford could have added that the best choice at any given time is always determined by "time"!
    The right new "creative" decision is the one that buys the most "time" for the new implementation!
    (Janos Kis)

    The player’s defense line

    Each player has an imaginary defense line on each side of his/her body, which are perpendicular to the vertical axis of the body. Positioned in any given point of this defense line, the player carries with him/her a specific circle or sphere of defense (“aura”). Or more precisely, we can always talk about only a semicircle (hemisphere), since what counts is the semicircle (hemisphere) on the side of the player that faces the passing lane (as the player can get involved in the game only on this side). In the case of high balls, the vertical dimension of the defense line must also be taken into consideration. This is a static description, but as the players are usually in motion, they take their imaginary area of defense (aura) with them.

    Nem számít a játékrendszer, csak a védővonal használata és annak a „futball törvénye” lesz a fontos a jövő futballjában…

    The width of the imaginary defense line always depends on the speed and accuracy of the ball and the speed of the defensive movement of the defender. Of course, the speed of the ball always depends on the strength of the pass. Therefore, the width of the defense line always depends on the speed and accuracy of the pass. The weaker and more inaccurate the pass, the wider the span of the defense line (defensive zone) may become. A player’s defense line always ends at the sideline of the pitch, but only at the sideline closer to the player; on the other side, it still extends. But as a player moves toward the center of the pitch, his/her defense line will widen again on both sides.

    Thus, a player who wants to close his/her defense (decrease the width of the defense zone) by shortening one of the segments of his/her defense line with the help of the sideline seems to make a good decision. But is this true?

    Not likely, since in such a situation, the player is likely to make an even bigger defensive mistake. Why is that? The closer you are to the side of the pitch, the easier it is for your opponent, who uses your defense line in the attack, to step behind or go around you with speed. It becomes clearer if we point out that the position of the player with the ball is the decisive factor in such situations: if the defender is not defending this player face to face, his/her pass will “only” be a straight pass, and this pass situation will always be closer to the goal and further away from the defender. Thus, the defender must always face the player with the ball! This is why the defender must always be aware of the sideline, and the attacker must utilize it well.

    VIDEOS

    TEQBALL in the 21st century

    In the 21st century, it is not easy to figure out, create and popularize inventions or products, let alone inventions in sport. Teqball is a world-class invention and, since one of the authors of this book himself stood at the cradle of this sport, we feel qualified to talk about it here. Moreover, the Teqball table provides an excellent training opportunity for any sports association.

    It can even be stated that it would be extremely remiss of a 21st century football association not to use such a device when training both feet. Hungarian football grew up with football tennis in the 1940s and 1950s, and teqball is modern football tennis for sports associations.

    DÖNTÉSI KÉPESSÉG

    Szándékunk szerint ez a könyv a döntési képesség határait feszegeti, mert ha visszagondol rá az olvasó, akkor ez a könyv több fejezete a jövő edzői számára a döntési képességekről szólt.

    FUTSAL / FUTBALL

    Mi a Futsal? A tudatos (terem)labdarúgás csúcsa!

    Több könyvet írtunk a futsalról mire ráébredtem, hogy a képzési gondolataiban mindig is a futballról írtunk. A könyvem fejezetei mindig is erről a kettősségekről szóltak.

    Apropó futsal, a futsalt más szemmel kellene nézni, ugyanis ennek a sportágnak van egy-két speciális taktikai gondolata, amely csak ebben a sportágban található meg. De a technikai és képzési törvények egyformák, amelyek eredményesen használhatóak mindkét sportágban.

    A fentiekben írtuk már, hogy csak a mérkőzés taktikájában különbözik a futballtól, de ez a különbség a játékosok képzésénél eltűnik, sőt olyan közeli lesz a két sportág utánpótlásképzése, mint két tojás

    FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF FOOTBALL

    In the last chapter of our book, we take on perhaps the most difficult task, we will try to look into the future, and we will try to help the future of football with our thoughts, which we are now sharing with our readers. The possibilities for development are getting narrower, it is very difficult to develop new training, technical, tactical elements, methods, methodologies with which we can add to today's professional game. Most of the criticism, in our opinion, will be given to defining the ball position and interpreting its importance. Still, we suggest the following to consider, hoping to be at least thought-provoking.

    A legtöbb kritikát véleményünk szerint a labdahelyzetének definiálása és annak fontosságának értelmezése fogja kapni. Mégis megfontolásra javasoljuk az alábbiakat, remélve, hogy minimum elgondolkodtatóak lesznek.

    The position of the ball

    Just as in the heliocentric model, the Sun is the center of the solar system, we believe that the ball is the center of football. According to our idea, the position of the ball is a priority, the players must always make their decisions compared to it. Just as the movement of our planets around the sun is based on the laws of the universe, so is the movement of players, who using the football laws of defense and offensive leadership, decide in each case to continue the game in relation to their ball position.

    Those who have read our book meticulously after all things are in 6.2.3. chapter these lines: the most important principle in football, the position of the ball! For us, the entirety revolves around the ball. We’re always going to smile at our coaching colleagues, saying that such and such a gaming system, and we play with attack control, since it is not the pre-determined line-up that matters in the match, but the current position of the ball!

    The current position of the ball will determine the continuation of the game, and this will override the ideas of the pre-decided basic line-ups and game forms. Only this principle can guide our position in defense and attack management.

    Javier Lozano

    Preface to the book „Time in Football”. The art of writing is the privilege of the brave and the generous. That's my opinion, in fact. I am convinced after 40 years of sports and training experience behind me. Writing, besides technique, style and creativity is an art, which attempts others to understand a desire, a reflection or a thought. This book is a refreshing mix of history, philosophy and knowledge.

    Claudio Vivas

    Once again, I would like to congratulate the authors for this work/book, from which radiates/comes serious research work and immense devotion, and thanks to this with the help of words and figures it is presented to the reader with a wide variety of evidence and anecdotes, in a word, the whole history of football is presented to us. I wish there were many more of this John and Andrew, who would put on paper this sport outstanding stories of its coaches and players.

    Carles Cuadrat

    It was especially heartwarming that everyone knew the Hungarian National Team which could not become world champion though it was the first to defeat the English National Team in Wembley and amused every „Football great power with their game. As Cruyffs Dutch National Team or other teams, which awarded the fans with wonderful moments, so did the Hungarian National Team led by players as Puskás, Kocsis and Czibor. Congratulations to the authors for this interesting books, in which they picture a possible future for the sport. I raed it with great pleasure and I reccommend it to every football manager, Yours faithfully, Carles Cudrat was connected to Barca for 20 years. At first as a reserve player then as the trainer of the „La Masia”.

    Zsolt Hornyák

    The grund is the basis of Hungarian football...

    I have been working in Hungarian football for several years, and since I myself have gone through life as a (football player-coach), I have experienced in practice what football needs or lacks. I have read several books by János, who in this book deals in great detail with the past of Hungarian football and in it with the life of our namesake Ferenc Puskás grund. Here I immediately found a parallel with a common childhood memory, as we used to play with all kinds of balls every day, just as the greatest player of all time did with his father when he was young and in his later life. To this day, I maintain that the grund provided foundations for Hungarian football at the time, which I do not perceive now, so I had to do something, since my job as a coach is to replace these foundations. That’s how I met János, who here in Hungary has serious knowledge and experience in futsal. I think that futsal is a “modern ground”, which helps to make quick and correct decisions, but also replaces the technical basics and thus gives the football player speed, dynamics and rhythm. We have been through several training sessions together and in the future we will continue to rely on the beneficial effect of futsal on the life of our team and association. But I will return to the content of the book, the coaching tree was interesting to me, which showed the serious impact Hungarian football coaches had on the world. The dissection of balance and the parallel of time and space in our football was a useful part for me. The precise derivation of the deceptive ploy was very basic (futsal) and for me the surprise was the definition of the defensive line, because even then it could not be read anywhere. The interesting thing about it is that we coaches instinctively have this knowledge, but here the teaching of awareness and its derivation is more than thought-provoking for the football of the future. In the last chapter, the importance of the ball and the center of football was a real hit, as it pointed back to the ground where I grew up myself, since the ball was the most important thing for us there, in the world at that time.

    I congratulate the authors for flying me back to my past and perhaps giving ideas, good thoughts to the football profession and readers or to the football of the future.

    Zsolt Hornyák - Puskás Akadémia FC

    Détári Lajos

    (Détári Lajos László (Budapest 1963. április 24.) hatvanegyszeres válogatott, hétszeres világválogatott és egyszeres Európa-válogatott magyar labdarúgó, edző. Détári a Bp. Honvéd saját nevelésű játékosa, aki egyike a magyar labdarúgás utolsó klasszisainak.) A labda a legfontosabb…

    Öcsi bácsi ajándéka…

    Utólag nagyon megköszönöm, hogy János és András felkért, hogy járuljak néhány gondolattal a könyvükhöz. A véleményem szerint még mindig tele van a magyar labdarúgás jobbnál-jobb játékossal, de, valahogy a képzésben mindent elsietünk, mivel nem megfelelő a tanítás, az alapok átadását képtelenek vagyunk megoldani. Megvagyok győződve arról, hogy ahogy fogy az idő, úgy kerülünk egyre távolabb, attól, hogy ezt a tapasztalatot még időben, átadhassuk a holnap edzőinek. Számomra is példakép volt, Puskás Ferenc, hiszen magam is a Honvédba (Kispest) végigjártam a szamárlétrát, hogy eljussak oda, ahová értem. Én még olyan edzőkkel dolgoztam, akiktől megkaptam azt a tudást, ami miatt 61 – szeres válogatott játékos lehettem. Sőt kijelenthető, hogy akkor majdnem minden csapatban volt egy-két olyan játékos, akik miatt érdemes volt mérkőzésekre járni, és labdarúgóvá válni. A könyvben azt találtam meg, ami pont hiányzik jó néhány éve a magyar labdarúgásból. Átfogó segítséget ad az edzői gondolkodásnak, a képzésnek, aprólékos, precíz magyarázatokkal, mutatja meg, a helyezkedéseket és döntéseket. Kitér arra, hogy a terület és az idő kapcsolata mellett az egyensúly szerepe is milyen fontos a labdarúgásban.

    Pelé-Détári
    Maradona-Détári

    A támadásvezetésnél igazi meglepetésként ért a védővonal magyarázata, ami hasonlóságot mutatott Marcelo Bielsa ismert gondolataival, de mégis más volt. Ilyenkor gondolkozik el az ember, hogy mindenkitől lehet tanulni és mindenkit érdemes elolvasni. Jó volt a szerzőkkel beszélgetni a fociról, jó volt olvasni, hogy milyen hasonlóan gondolkodunk a futballról, a közegről. Merész állításokkal, magyarázatokkal és bizonyítékokkal van tele a könyv és a fejezetek olvasása után, a futball ösztönünk, tényleg tudássá, tudatossá változik. A könyv végét össze is kötöm, egy saját történettel, talán érdemes megosztanom ezt a történetet. Most, persze mindenki arra gondol, hogy Puskás Ferenccel, de én inkább Erzsikéről) Puskás Ferenc felesége), írnék, hiszen amikor találkoztunk, illetve találkoztam vele és bemutatkoztam, akkor csak azt mondta: igen tudom, hogy ki vagy, rólad mondta Öcsi (Puskás Ferenc), hogy nálad mindig jó helyen van a labda. A labdáról jut eszembe, hogy a könyv csattanója a labda helyzete és annak gondolata. “Bevallom, hogy még így leírva és levezetve sehol sem olvastam és minden sorával egyetértek. Hiszem, hogy a csapat védekezése és a támadásvezetése, csak a labda helyzetéből indulhat.” Sőt nekünk edzőknek ezt kell legjobban a játékosaink fejébe vésni, hogy a labda helyzete fontosabb a felállásnál, mert a helyes döntést a folytatásban nekik, csak innen szabad meghozniuk. Nagyon izgalmas és sokra érdemes könyvet kaptam kézbe, sok ilyen és hasonló könyv segítheti a magyar futball felemelkedését és játékos kinevelését, gratulálok hozzá és ajánlom mindenkinek.

    Détári Lajos

    Kis János: Számomra az egyik legfontosabb találkozás, beszélgetés Détári Lajos (Döme)-vel volt. Fociztam ellene, érezhettem tudását, láthatta ezt a világ is, igen mert véleményem szerint Ő volt az utolsó világsztárunk. Mindig kell nekünk egy példakép, az én futballvilágomban ő volt a futballista, nem, csak azért mert egy napon ünnepeljük a születésnapunkat, hanem mert a világ számára is ünnep volt, ahol Ő pályára lépett.

    Sisa Tibor

    Whoever takes the courage and comes into the limelight with their own thoughts and ideas instantly becomes vulnerable to attacks: their work can be criticized, as it is now exposed to scrutiny. They have made public what they think, what is on their mind, how they see the world – in our specific case, the world of football. Taking these factors into account, even this book proves one thing about writers: namely, whoever writes a book these days must be very determined, or fanatical, even crazy, or they must have a load of money and time on their hands.

    „Összefogásban nem vagyunk túl jók” - Sisa Tibor

    Sisa Tibor konferencia előadása

    Marco Rossi

    Fejlesztés alatt

    Puskás Ferenc

    Ó, a mai napig gyönyörű volt minden! Ha újra kezdeném, ismét futballista lennék. Jó lenne továbbra is vidáman, egészségesen élni. Mert nemsokára jön értünk a kaszás. Én öregem „ott fent” is jó csapatban leszek. Zsák Karcsi, Orth Gyuri, Bozsik Cucu, ja Slozi maradhat balösszekötőben, a kedvéért én kimegyek a balszélre. Ott fent fiam mindig az a csapatkapitány, aki utoljára érkezik. De, VIGYÁZAT, ott fent én mindent látok, ezért becsüljétek meg magatokat, ti magyarok…”