Pavel Srníček (10 March 1968 – 29 December 2015) was a Czech football coach and former professional player who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. In a career that lasted from 1990 to 2007, he notably played in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

mainly for Newcastle United. In addition, he represented

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

and

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

in England's top flight, and also played in

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

for

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo ...

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had been ...

with Cosenza, in Portugal for Beira-Mar, and in his native country for

Baník Ostrava ''Baník'' is a Slovak word meaning "miner". Since the 1950s it has been part of the name of various sports clubs in Czechoslovakia associated mostly with coal mining regions. In Poland, the same practice was conducted with the name ''górnik''. ...

. After retiring, he worked as a goalkeeping coach for his own private school and for

AC Sparta Prague ) but refer to Spartans as "''Rudí''" ( en, The Dark Reds/The Maroons).'' Letenští'' , ground = Generali Česká pojišťovna Arena , capacity = 19,416 , clubname = Sparta Prague , image = Sparta Praha logo.png , image_size = 160px , fu ...

. Srníček played internationally for the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

from 1994 to 2001, earning a total of 49

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

. He was part of their squad that came runners-up at

UEFA Euro 96 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

, and was their first-choice goalkeeper when they came third at the

1997 FIFA Confederations Cup The 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup was the first Confederations Cup to be organised by FIFA. The tournament had previously been played in 1992 and 1995 as the King Fahd Cup. This edition of the tournament was hosted by Saudi Arabia, as with the pre ...

and contested

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament wa ...

Club career

Newcastle United

Srníček made 30 appearances in the

Czechoslovak First League The Czechoslovak First League ( cs, 1. fotbalová liga, sk, 1. futbalová liga) was the premier football league in the Czechoslovakia from 1925 to 1993, with the exception of World War II. Czechoslovakia was occupied by German forces who forme ...

for

spanning the 1989–90 and 1990–91 seasons. He was signed for English side Newcastle United in January 1991 by manager Jim Smith for a fee of £350,000, being one of 23 players signed by Smith in a -year period as manager. Smith left just two months after Srníček's arrival. Under manager Ossie Ardiles, Srníček established himself as Newcastle's first-choice goalkeeper ahead of John Burridge and Tommy Wright. Srníček experienced difficulty in the first 15 games of the 1991–92 season, conceding 32 goals in that period including six in a single match against

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...

. Ardiles replaced Srníček as goalkeeper with Wright and by February 1992, the club was merely one place from last in the Second Division. This led to Kevin Keegan replacing Ardiles as manager, with the club winning seven of their remaining 16 games, only managing to confirm their future status in the division with an away win against

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

on the last day of the season. The club started the 1992–93 season in the new Football League First Division, winning all of their first 11 matches. Wright lost his place as goalkeeper to Srníček after 14 games of the season. At the end of the season, Keegan's first full one as manager, the club was promoted to the

with 96 points. 1993 saw the arrival of Mike Hooper from Liverpool, who competed with Srníček for the position of goalkeeper. Srníček marked the opening of the 1994–95 season, a 3–1 away victory against Leicester City, by being

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

. A "terrible error" by Srníček in a September 1994 match against Liverpool resulted in a goal for Liverpool striker

Ian Rush Ian James Rush (born 20 October 1961) is a Welsh former professional footballer who played as a forward. At club level Rush played for Liverpool from 1980–1987 and 1988–1996. He is the club's all-time leading goalscorer, having scored a t ...

, ending Newcastle's perfect start to the season and leading Glenn Moore of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'' to question how much longer the goalkeeper would remain in the first team. During Srníček's league

suspension Suspension or suspended may refer to: Science and engineering * Suspension (topology), in mathematics * Suspension (dynamical systems), in mathematics * Suspension of a ring, in mathematics * Suspension (chemistry), small solid particles suspende ...

in 1995, former

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

man

Shaka Hislop Neil Shaka Hislop CM (born 22 February 1969) is a retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Born in England, he played for them at under-21 level before representing Trinidad and Tobago at senior international level. The majority of his ...

assumed position as the team's goalkeeper. Later an injury to Hislop enabled Srníček to return to the first team, upon which he entered into an impressive run of form. He was named

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

in a December 1995 match against Everton, his team winning 1–0. During the 1990s, Srníček became the longest-serving foreign Newcastle player, passing the time spent at the club by Chilean brothers

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...

and

Ted Robledo Eduardo "Ted" Robledo Oliver (26 July 1928 – 6 December 1970) was a Chilean professional football player. He played as a left-sided defender, and is most notable for his time spent with Newcastle United. He was also part of Chile's squad ...

. Srníček played in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

, making a "vital save" from

Amara Traoré Amara Traoré (born 25 September 1965) is a Senegalese former professional footballer who is the head coach of Horoya AC in the Guinée Championnat National. He managed the Senegal national team and ASC Linguère in Senegal. Playing career ...

and keeping a clean sheet as Newcastle beat Metz 2–0 in a December 1996 match in Newcastle, to qualify for the quarter finals of the competition.

Banik and Sheffield Wednesday

Srníček returned to Ostrava in 1998, playing six matches in the

Czech First League The Czech First League, known as the Fortuna liga for sponsorship reasons, is a Czech professional league for football clubs. At the top of the Czech football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Seasons typically r ...

for Baník. He had a five-day trial with

in October 1998, joining the club soon afterwards. He made his debut for the club at

St James' Park St James' Park is a football stadium in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is the home of Premier League club Newcastle United F.C. With a seating capacity of 52,305 seats, it is the eighth largest football stadium in England. St James' Pa ...

in a 1–1 draw against former team Newcastle, standing in for injured goalkeeper

Kevin Pressman Kevin Paul Pressman (born 6 November 1967) is an English football coach and former professional goalkeeper, who is the current goalkeeping coach for Grantham Town. As a player he made over 500 appearances in both the Premier League and Footb ...

. On 18 December 1999, in a league match against Aston Villa Srníček saved two penalties, one from

Dion Dublin Dion Dublin (born 22 April 1969) is an English former professional footballer, television presenter and pundit. He is a club director of Cambridge United. As a player he was a centre-forward, notably playing in the Premier League for Mancheste ...

and one from

Paul Merson Paul Charles Merson (born 20 March 1968) is an English former professional footballer, manager, commentator and sports television pundit for Sky Sports. Originally a forward, Merson found success as an attacking midfielder and playmaker later ...

, however Wednesday still ended up losing 2–1. He played for Wednesday for the last time in March 2000, leaving the club in June 2000 under the Bosman ruling, after the club was relegated from the Premier League.

Italy

Srníček joined Italian club

in July 2000, signing a three-year contract. During a November 2000 league match against

Reggina Reggina 1914 S.r.l., commonly referred to as Reggina, is an Italian football club based in Reggio Calabria. Founded in 1914, they currently play in Serie B, and play their home matches at the 27,763 seater Stadio Oreste Granillo. They are n ...

, Srníček was hit by a

firework Fireworks are a class of low explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large number of devices in ...

, which caused a stoppage to the game. Other objects were thrown onto the pitch including

flare A flare, also sometimes called a fusée, fusee, or bengala in some Latin-speaking countries, is a type of pyrotechnic that produces a bright light or intense heat without an explosion. Flares are used for distress signaling, illumination, ...

s and sticks on numerous occasions, eventually resulting in the decision by referee

Pierluigi Collina Pierluigi Collina (; born 13 February 1960) is an Italian former football referee. He was named "The World's Best Referee" by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics six consecutive times from 1998-2003. Collina is still ...

to abandon the match.

Return to England

Srníček joined newly promoted Premier League side Portsmouth on 1 September 2003 on a free transfer, citing former Newcastle goalkeeper Hislop and Czech teammate

Patrik Berger Patrik Berger (; born 10 November 1973) is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He started his career in his own country with Slavia Prague and spent a season in Germany playing for Borussia Dortmund. He moved to ...

as key influences in his decision. He made his debut for the club in a fourth round

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

match against South Coast Derby rivals

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

on 3 December, a 2–0 loss, and made his league debut for the club in a 0–0 draw with

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

three days later. Having fallen behind Hislop and Harald Wapenaar in the selection, Srníček joined

in the First Division on a one-month loan deal on 19 February 2004. After making his debut against

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...

as a substitute for

Matthew Etherington Matthew Etherington (born 14 August 1981) is an English professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of club Crawley Town. As a player, Etherington played as a winger, most notably in the Premier League for ...

on 21 March 2004 in a 4–1 defeat, known as the "Mothers' Day Massacre", at

The Den The Den (previously The New Den) is a football stadium in New Cross, south-east London, and the home of Millwall Football Club. The Den is adjacent to the South London railway originating at , and a quarter of a mile from the Old Den, which i ...

, following the sending-off of first-choice goalkeeper, Stephen Bywater, Srníček moved to West Ham on a free transfer, signing a contract until the end of the season. He started two matches in Bywater's absence, against

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

and

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

, but the team took just one point from the two games. He played no further games for West Ham and left the club at the end of the season.

Portugal

Srníček spent the summer of 2004 trialling with

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

and later training with

Opava Opava (; german: Troppau, pl, Opawa) is a city in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 55,000 inhabitants. It lies on the river Opava. Opava is one of the historical centres of Silesia. It was a historical capital of ...

. He subsequently headed to Portuguese club

S.C. Beira-Mar Sport Clube Beira-Mar () is a Portuguese sports club based in Aveiro, Portugal. Its football team currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth national level, having gained promotion by winning the Aveiro FA First Division 2018/19 ...

, for whom he made his debut in September. Beira-Mar finished last in the league and were relegated at the end of the 2004–05 season.

Second spell at Newcastle

Srníček made a return to Newcastle on 29 September 2006, signing a short-term deal until the end of the year as cover for the injured

Shay Given Séamus John James Given (born 20 April 1976) is an Irish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. With 134 caps, he is the second-highest capped Republic of Ireland player. Given started his career at Celtic, however he neve ...

. He returned to the pitch on 23 December, when Newcastle defeated

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

3–1. He was brought on for Given, who had pulled his groin in the 87th minute, and received a tremendous reception from the Newcastle crowd as he came on. He featured in Newcastle's match against Bolton Wanderers three days later, making his first start for the club since October 1997. Having made two appearances for Newcastle during his initial three-month period, his contract was extended until the end of the 2006–07 season. He was released by Newcastle in May 2007, having played no further games for the club.

International career

Srníček went to

Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

, but was reserve goalkeeper behind

Petr Kouba Petr Kouba (born 28 January 1969 in Prague) is a Czech former professional football goalkeeper and current assistant coach for the Czech under-20 and under-21 national teams. He played for Czechoslovakia and later the Czech Republic, for both he ...

. Following the tournament, he played 15 consecutive matches for his native

, establishing himself as first-choice goalkeeper. He was first choice at the

, in which the Czechs came third. Srníček played in all three of the Czech Republic's matches at

Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

. He made a number of saves in his team's opening match against

the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, although he was unable to stop a late

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) A p ...

Frank De Boer Franciscus de Boer (; born 15 May 1970) is a Dutch football manager who was most recently the head coach of the Netherlands national team. A former defender, De Boer spent most of his professional playing career with Ajax, winning five Eredi ...

scored the only goal of the game in the 89th minute. Srníček retired from international football in November 2001, following his nation's failure to qualify for the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea an ...

. He finished his international career with a total of 49 senior appearances between 1994 and 2001.

Coaching career

Srníček began the Srníček school of goalkeeping in Czech Republic offering youngsters from around the world the opportunity to learn from his coaching. He was also involved in a number of charity organisations. On 4 January 2012,

Sparta Prague ) but refer to Spartans as "''Rudí''" ( en, The Dark Reds/The Maroons).'' Letenští'' , ground = Generali Česká pojišťovna Arena , capacity = 19,416 , clubname = Sparta Prague , image = Sparta Praha logo.png , image_size = 160px , fu ...

appointed Srníček to their coaching staff.

Outside football

Srníček was the son of a woodcutter. His working life started with a period of service in the

Czechoslovak People's Army The Czechoslovak People's Army ( cs, Československá lidová armáda, sk, Československá ľudová armáda, ČSLA) was the armed forces of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) and the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic from 1954 until ...

. In December 2015, he returned to

Tyneside Tyneside is a built-up area across the banks of the River Tyne in northern England. Residents of the area are commonly referred to as Geordies. The whole area is surrounded by the North East Green Belt. The population of Tyneside as publishe ...

to promote his autobiography, ''Pavel is a Geordie''. He suffered a

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. It is a medical emergency that, without immediate medical intervention, will result in sudden cardiac death within minutes. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and poss ...

while out jogging on 20 December 2015, and was put into an

induced coma An induced comaalso known as a medically induced coma (MIC), barbiturate-induced coma, or drug-induced comais a temporary coma (a deep state of unconsciousness) brought on by a controlled dose of an anesthetic drug, often a barbiturate such as pe ...

at a hospital in his native Ostrava. He died nine days later, when his life support was turned off due to irreversible brain damage. Srníček's funeral was held in his hometown on 4 January 2016, mourners included his Newcastle understudy Steve Harper and Czech teammate

Pavel Nedvěd Pavel Nedvěd (; born 30 August 1972) is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is regarded as one of the most successful players to emerge from the Czech Republic, winning domestic and European accolades with Ital ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Srnicek, Pavel 1968 births 2015 deaths Association football goalkeepers Czechoslovak footballers Czech footballers Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Newcastle United F.C. players FC Baník Ostrava players S.C. Beira-Mar players Brescia Calcio players Cosenza Calcio 1914 players Premier League players Czech First League players Primeira Liga players Serie B players English Football League players UEFA Euro 1996 players 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup players UEFA Euro 2000 players Czech Republic international footballers Czech expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Portugal Sportspeople from Ostrava Czech expatriate sportspeople in England Czech expatriate sportspeople in Italy Czech expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Czech male writers Association football coaches