Q: What British TV gameshow helped Szabi Schön get to grips with the English language?
A: The Chase, B: Pointless or C: Mastermind.
If your answer was A, you are correct, but the quirky Hungarian doesn’t fancy taking on The Vixen just yet!
Schön actually had a good grip of the native tongue when Wanderers brought him to the North West from Fehérvár in the summer – he had, after all, previously spent time in the US playing for FC Dallas – but he remembers how Bradley Walsh and Co helped him get his eye back in during his first few weeks in the Whites Hotel.
“I don’t take any lessons for my English,” said the 24-year-old, who has become somewhat of a crowd favourite since swapping the Hungarian top flight for League One.
“In my free time I want to chill, so I’ll watch football and watch a few series but I don’t watch much in English – but maybe The Chase?
“When I was in my first month here at Bolton I lived in the stadium and when I put on the TV it was always on. I just loved that no-one could beat The Chase, it is a crazy show.”
“I don’t think I would be too good on The Chase, though. I’d try my best, but I will just play and stick to football.”
There is something of a metaphor present for Wanderers’ season, which has thus far been spent in pursuit of the promotion places without ever quite managing to get over the cusp.
But would anyone in the Bolton dressing room have a chance against The Beast, The Governess and the Sinnerman?
“If I had to pick anyone it would be Thommo (George Thomason), he is a clever lad,” Schön said, having given the question a fair amount of thought. “Who has got zero percent chance? It has to be Macca (John McAtee). He has no chance!”
Thankfully, Schön is more upbeat about Wanderers’ chances of success this season.
Though tougher times have been an eye-opener for someone fresh into the English game, not least the savage reaction from Bolton’s away fans after the 5-0 defeat at Stockport back in November, Schön says he has been pleasantly surprised by the passion and quantity of supporters which follow the Whites around the country.
Since Steven Schumacher replaced Ian Evatt in January there has been a pronounced shift in mood, and it has been noticed on the pitch too.
“It’s very different, it’s great,” Schön said of the fans’ backing. “I can remember Stockport. That game wasn’t our best game, that I can say.
“If you don’t win games the fans are not going to be happy, of course. I think in the last three or four games we have been strong, as individuals, as a team, attacking and defensively, we have been playing well.
“We feel that the fans have always been behind us. Whether we are at home, or we are down in London, there are thousands of fans everywhere, it feels good. It is amazing.”
The average home crowd in League One is a shade over 10,000, which is roughly the equivalent of Hungary’s best-supported club, Ferencvaros.
Schön had experienced football in the Netherlands and MLS before arriving at Bolton and though the size of the home support at the Toughsheet was not news to him, he admits the size of the club’s away support has been a pleasant surprise.
“I watched a couple of Championship games before I signed here and knew that was the second division, the crazy fans they have got, but I can be honest, I don’t think I had seen a League One game before,” he said.
“I had heard about Bolton, of course, because it is a really big team, and they had been in the Premier League. It doesn’t surprise me that there are 20,000 people coming to watch games here but away from home, yeah, I didn’t know it would be like that. It is a surprise to me.
“They make so much noise and it doesn’t matter where you go.”
