SHORT INTERVIEW WITH THE FOOTBALL KING IN HIS NEW HOME
Sándor Steiner | 21/03/1925

It's 12 noon... I'm walking towards the Paris café... whoops!... this is Sparta's track, where I find Spéci, the goal king, who has returned to Prague. I go in. In the thick smoke I find him with difficulty. I introduce myself. His Majesty receives me with mistrust. He doesn't want to talk, but then he softens. 

The first subject is Vienna, of course. How did he leave it? And there's a betraying tear in Spéci's eye: 

Schaffer: Vienna... 

And he can't speak any longer, he just points to his chest, where the Amateure's brilliantly emblazoned badge of honour shines. 

Schaffer: Meisl's departure has loosened the ties that bound me to the Amateurs, but I have never had such a hard time parting from a club as I did from the Vienna 'purple', even though I have said goodbye to a club on several occasions. 

I ask about his contract: 

Schaffer: I am signed for two years as a player and coach. I'm a coach and I'm contracted as a coach and a manager. My contract is independent of the results the teams have to achieve. 

— Would you return to Budapest if professionalism were introduced there?

Schaffer: You wouldn't ask if you knew how much I would have liked to play for Budapest all my life, but it seems that my compatriots don't want me. And I won't be playing for much longer; 3-4 years, then it's over, I really wanted to go to Paris, but I wasn't invited. It still hurts now. Now I don't think I can go back to Budapest, but I'm still promoting the supremacy of Hungarian football everywhere. But I've grown very fond of the grounds of Angyalföld! 

I ask him if he is not afraid of a repeat of what happened during his stay in Prague two years ago (when some Sparta players took action against him, for which he had to leave the team). 

Schaffer: I had not thought of that. But it's a different situation now, Pilát and Janda are no longer at Sparta and and I was very welcome by those present. I'm going to honour my contract and if they don't... then I still have time to think. 

I bid farewell to the great Alfréd and he cries out for me as I leave: 

Schaffer: Vienna is just Vienna! I am sure the Hungarian public will be interested to read what the Prague press has to say about Schaffer's rediviviousness:


Schaffer's actions brought calmness to Sparta's game. It seems that the team has regained its old enthusiasm and will to win. 

Schaffer's debut was very well done. Although their partners played below form, his presence forced them to play a different game. His slope and technique non plus ultra. 

Schaffer showed how a centre should play. With him, Sparta has become very strong and the time is not far away for the team to become the champions of the continent. 

We were not disappointed, Schaffer's game was great. The pride of Hungary has lost nothing of his skills. His every move and movement is dangerous, his game satisfies even the most demanding footballing needs. Happy Hungarians! They even have Orth, who is the best centre-forward on the continent at the moment.