Start the engine

Hi!

So, I have a stupid question. This week I bought a Skoda Fabia mk3. The seller told to always press the clutch before Turn the key to start the engine. And until now I had no problem to start the car.

Yesterday my dad wanted to try it. Since he have a older car, He had the car in neutral, and then turn the key to start the engine. The car made a weird noise, the dashboard showed a message saying "start the car manually" (the car have manual gear). When I tried to start the car it didnt start, even with the clutch pressed. It took like 2/3 minutes to start. Was really weird!

I searched and found a website saying that happens to prevent the car to give a "bump" when a gear is set and the driver dont press the clutch.

This is normal? How can I start the car when this happens again?

Thank you!!