Tomas Rosicky in 2001.
“I don’t know what happens in the
summer if West Ham go down,” says
a phlegmatic Trpisovsky. “It depends a lot
on how he plays.
“If he plays like the first game, there
will be interest from better clubs. I believe
he will have a lot of offers.”
Trpisovsky has the cushion of a big
lead at the top of the table but must now
rebuild in the second half of the season.
“We lost a lot of tall players,” says
former Slavia centre-back Jiri Bilek. “We
can be quick and make a pressing game
but now we are a small team.”
Bilek played for Kaiserslautern in
Germany and Poland’s Zaglebie Lubin
before returning to finish his career at
Slavia. Having retired as a player in 2017
and now in charge of the club’s youth
set-up, he has no doubt the popular
Trpisovsky – who wears a trademark
white baseball hat and watches games
with his hands plunged into tracksuit
bottoms – is up to the task.
“Trpisovsky knows how he wants to
play and the type of players that he
wants,” says Bilek. “I have never seen a
coach with his style before. He is always
three steps ahead.
“I played for 20 years and never had
a coach like him. The atmosphere is very
different. He’s like a friend but he also
knows when to be the boss.”
Slavia’s owners will want a Champions
League return next season but, with only
six qualifying places available, the top of
Europe’s footballing pyramid is slipping
into the distance.
Bilek continues: “The rest of the world
will run away and we can’t catch them.
We can be successful but just in our
world. We wanted to keep Soucek but
we have to sell him because of the
financial side.
“Our place, if we are realistic, is the
Europa League. Of course we can dream
of the Champions League, but the ruleshave changed.”
UEFA is creating a third European
competition – and one that Czech clubs
could win – but there appears to be little
appetite for such a competition.
“It will be split regionally and no one
will be interested. It will end up like the
Intertoto Cup,” says Stepan Hanus, head
of PR and communications at the Czech
Football League.
As Europe’s top clubs motor off with
more UEFA money, the Czech league
struggles to play catch-up.
“Just to break even in Czech football
you need to play in Europe or you
lose money,” shrugs Bohemiansdirector Darek Jakubowicz, whose family
own 51 per cent of the club. “You need
a strong owner.”
Bohemians get by on a budget of
€3.5m, while Slavia’s is around €50m.
At present TV money is shared equally
but the clubs are discussing whether
to change the existing arrangement
of seven matches a week on pay TV
and one on free-to-air. However, even
tweaking a deal that runs to 2035
will not generate enough money and
the league are looking at other ways
of raising income.
“There are three options,” explains
Hanus. “The clubs can find another
TV market for the league or we can
decrease the number of professional
clubs. Everyone that talks about Czech
football knows that 32 clubs [in the top
two tiers] is already too many.
“The other option is to make a new
market with another country like Slovakia
or Slovenia.”
The Czech Republic split harmoniously
from Slovakia in 1993 and there is
appetite for recombining the leagues
in Bratislava, although not in Prague.
Another option is esports. Czech clubs
have not been on FIFA’s eponymous
game since 2011 after the federation
asked owners EA Sport for too much
money. Four sides – Bohemians, Sparta,
Plzen and Teplice – have esports arms
and the league is pushing to get back“I have never seen a coach with his
style before. He’s three steps ahead”
Jiri Bilek on Slavia coach Jindrich TrpisovskyEuropean regulars...
Mlada Boleslav fans