FM20: The FM Teacher's Paradise in Prague

[TheFM_Teacher]

Those that know of my holiday in the summer of 2019 will know that I went to the Czech Republic’s capital Prague with the intention of seeing as many football grounds as possible. The history of Eastern European football has fascinated me for many years. After visiting Prague, I was inspired to start a save with the lowest-ranked team in Prague that I could find with the intention to eventually end up at one of the two powerhouses that currently rule football in the top tier of the Czech football leagues.

Football and the Czech Republic have a whole lot of history, going all the way back to a 1-1 draw with Hungary in 1906. The team was called Bohemia then, but with independence came footballing independence and a whole lot of glory. Czechoslovakia was losing World Cup finalists in 1934 and 1962, going one better and winning the European Championships in 1976. Being the capital and biggest city Prague had a whole lot of input in these successes, and the city predictably dominated the Czechoslovak First League.

47 out of 67 Czechoslovak championships were won by clubs from Prague, with Sparta leading the way with a remarkable 21 titles. When the Velvet Divorce came in 1993 Prague clubs continued their stranglehold on Czech championships, with nine of the first 10 being won by capital clubs. The football riches have begun to spread throughout the country with titles being won by clubs in Liberec, Plzen and Ostrava, but Prague still acts as the traditional centre of power in Czech football.

Whilst there are a whole host of clubs in Prague itself (14 at last count), only five of these have consistently performed in the upper reaches of Czech football since the demise of Czechoslovakia.

AC Sparta Prague

Chances are if the casual European football fan knows one side from the Czech Republic, it’ll be Sparta Prague. With 21 Czechoslovak championships and eight of the first 10 Czech titles safely in its trophy cabinet, Sparta is the Prague club with the biggest continental reach by some way. It helps that well-known modern names such as Tomáš Rosicky, Petr Čech, Karel Poborský and Patrik Berger (among others) all became stars here.

Sparta itself came into being way back in 1893 when a group of young lads decided the time was right to set up a sports club. The club is now famous for wearing redcurrant shirts, and for that, we have English club Arsenal FC to thank. Sparta actually wore black up until 1906, at which point then-club president Dr Petřik saw the Gunners play on a tour of the United Kingdom. If it worked for Arsenal it could work for Sparta, and from that point on variants of red and white were the colours of the club.

The side in redcurrant simply dominated Czechoslovak football, winning the Czechoslovak league a whopping 21 times (including eight championships out of the last 10). This domination continued in the Czech league, where Iron Sparta won seven of the first eight titles. Sparta is that club, the one that is always there or thereabouts at the top of the league. They play their home games at the Generali Stadium (known informally as Stadion Letna). The Sparta women’s team has been even more dominant in recent times - it won every league title between 2005 and 2013 for example.









SK Slavia Prague

It might not be the most popular descriptor possible, but one can be forgiven for viewing Slavia Prague as the Manchester City to Sparta’s Manchester United. Older than Sparta by one year, Slavia has largely been in the shadow of their biggest rivals throughout their history, their impressive achievements somewhat dwarfed by those of Sparta. This may change, however, as in 2015 Slavia were bought by CEFC China Energy Company.

Founded in 1892 by medicine students in Vinohrady, Slavia was initially a cycling-focused sports club looking to increase sporting activity amongst the students. Football really kicked off in 1896, and on March 29th of that year, the very first Slavia/Sparta derby was held. The match ended 0-0, and suffice to say there aren’t a whole lot of glowing reports of the battle.

Everything changed for Slavia in 1905, with the arrival of a Scottish man by the name of John Madden. A former Celtic player, Madden brought new tactics, new ideas and a new footballing culture to the club, and the results were impressive, to say the least. Madden won 134 out of his 169 games, establishing an early golden age for the club known as Věčná Slavia (The Eternal Slavia). In fact, Slavia was far and away from the strongest club in the country up until the climax of World War Two.

Slavia would win the first post-war Czechoslovak League in 1946/47, but they wouldn’t taste championship success again until 49 years later in 1996. They would have to wait another decade before winning the title again, and they celebrated their move to the Eden Arena in 2008 with another title. The Red and Whites also have a successful women’s team, who regularly compete with Sparta for the championship.

Bohemians 1905

Every nation has its slightly wacky neutral’s favourites, and Bohemians 1905 is certainly that in the Czech Republic. The green and whites came into being in 1905 (obviously) as AFK Vršovice, and their mascot isn’t a kangaroo without reason. In 1927 Australia chose the club to represent all of Bohemia, giving them two live kangaroos as a gift in the process. As a result of the Aussies choice, the club changed their name to Bohemians, dropped the kangaroos off at the zoo and plonked the marsupial on their badge for all eternity.

Bohemians 1905’s golden era was the early 1980s when the club did the unthinkable and somehow managed to win the 1982/83 Czechoslovakian League, as well as reaching the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup. It was a remarkable achievement, but 20 years after this success it seemed as though the club would be no more as it stared financial oblivion in the face. The club was eventually saved by the fans, who paid off a considerable portion of the sizeable debt.

For a short while, there were actually two Bohemians Prague clubs in the top flight. The traditional club used to be associated with the TJ Bohemians Praha franchise, who took advantage of the Kangaroos’ financial issues in 2005 to rent the logo out to lowly FC Střižkov Praha 9, who subsequently rose to the top division on the back of TJ’s finances. It wouldn’t last, however, and much like the Highlander films, there can be only one Bohemians.











FK Dukla Prague

A bit of a confusing one this, unless you happen to be a fan of either AFC Wimbledon or MK Dons. Playing their home games in the monolithic Juliska Stadium, a cursory glance at the winner’s table will show that Dukla Prague was 11-times champions of Czechoslovakia, as well as eight-times winners of the Czechoslovak Cup.

The ideological Dukla came into being in 1948 and would win their first title in 1953. The club was backed by the army, which meant they had the pick of the talent across Czechoslovakia. This didn’t exactly make them the most popular club in the country, but it did make them one of the most successful.

When communism died, Dukla began to die too. They finished bottom of the first-ever Czech League, and in 1996 Dukla merged with second division club FC Portál Přibram, a club based some 40km away from Prague. A number of name changes followed with the club eventually settling on their current name, 1.FK Přibram.

So if Přibram is Dukla, who are Dukla? Well, Dukla is Dukla, obviously. Maybe not the legal successor to the historic club, but they are the modern-day version nonetheless. Dukla came from local amateur side Dukla Dejvice, finding themselves in the second division in 2007 before finally winning promotion back to the top tier in 2011. They wear the traditional red and gold, play in the monolithic Juliska and represent the modern-day continuation of the Dukla Prague legacy.









FK Viktoria Žižkov

Based in trendy yet gritty Žižkov, FK Viktoria is one of the founders of Czech football. By the time World War Two ended they were the third most successful club in Czechoslovakia, winning the championship in 1927/28, but they fell by the wayside somewhat during Czechoslovakia’s communist period and only found themselves promoted back to the top tier of Czech football in 1993 when all the Slovak teams walked away from the system.

FK Viktoria went through the usual mass of name changes during the 1950s with little success, before reverting back to the classic in 1965. Žižkov has experienced much more success in the cups, winning that particular trophy seven times between 1913 and 1940, before doing so again in 1994 and 2007.

In recent times Žižkov has become something of a yo-yo club, although the 2001/02 season did see them come within a few minutes of a miraculous league title, finishing just a point behind winners Slovan Liberec. Corruption scandals and financial peril followed, however, leaving the Viktoria faithful dreaming of these better days.

British fans may know the club best from European adventures against Chelsea and Glasgow Rangers, although fans of the latter may well want to forget their away goals defeat in the UEFA Cup in 2004.

 

[TheFM_Teacher]

As mentioned in the introductory post of this FM20 story, I'll be taking charge of FK Viktoria Žižkov who currently play in the second tier of Czech Football, the division known as the Czech National Football League, currently known as Fortuna národní liga due to sponsorship reasons. I have put pen to paper of one-year contract and will be paid £950 p/w which is approximately 28,000 Czech Koruna.

FK Viktoria Žižkov is one of the oldest football clubs in the Czech Republic, from Žižkov. The team was founded in 1903 in the town of Žižkov and since 1922 became part of Czech Republic's capital city, Prague.

Viktoria's ground, FK Viktoria Stadion, is situated on Seifertova třída, just a short walk (one tram stop) from Prague's main railway station. The stadium has a capacity of 5,334. In 2007 the club opened a fan shop at the ground for the sale of club mementoes. When I was in Prague, I was unable to get into the club shop as it was not open at the time that I visited the ground.

In terms of other club facilities, Viktoria possesses average training and youth facilities these are both support by good youth recruitment. I'll be looking to improve the training facilities and youth recruitment during my time at the club.

As you can see, Viktoria are currently in a barren twelve-year spell having not won a competition since 2007. Let's hope we can change that.

As always at the start of a Football Manager save, the club's coaches have a provided me with a report of what they believe is the club's Best XI. We'll let's just say that this tactical style is not my preferred style. We've got pre-season to judge the current crop of players. Those you that do know my preferred tactical style will know that I prefer the asymmetrical tactics. I'll be trying out a few tactics during pre-season as well as trying out the crop of players that are available.


The coaches have also provided me with what they believe is the club's hot prospect - Tadeas Zeman. A 17-year-old striker that looks to have a bright future.

In terms of club culture, I'm very happy with the board's selections. When I created my manager profile, I selected youth development as my main trait so to see that the board want me to develop players using the club's youth system impresses me. It will, however, take some doing with the average training and youth facilities but we're aided with the good youth recruitment so who knows what the future holds. There could be a top player that comes through in future youth recruitment days.

For the tactical approach, the board would like me to play both attacking and entertaining football. Again, this pleases me as I like to play open and expressive football in, as previously mentioned, an asymmetrical base shape.

The five-year plan includes working within the wage budget, finishing in the top half of the league and getting to the third round of the MOL Cup my first season. Fingers crossed that will be successful and I'll be given a new contract which will mean that the plans for future seasons will change as currently, the only plans are to finish in the top half of the league for the next five years.


Pre-Season Preparation

Pre-season at the start has already been sorted for me. We'll be playing seven friendlies to prepare for the upcoming season. I was given the opportunity to choose the training focus. As I was the players to adapt to my tactical style quickly, I have chosen a tactical approach to training for pre-season. As previously mentioned, I'll be using my asymmetrical tactics during pre-season to increase the adaptability and settle the players into my managerial approach.

The pre-season plans, tactical setup, training schedules and a few other decision will be explained in the next chapter. Put it this way, I've already told certain people to leave the club.

 

[RafaVanDerVaart]

Good luck mate!

 

[Jonny(fm)Bass]

Smash it Teach!

 

[TheFM_Teacher]

We're Half Way There!
​

Okay, so I'm halfway through the season and I've got a lot to cover. I'll start with pre-season.

As always on Football Manager, I started pre-season with a friendly against the club's B team. It was in this game that I saw the good side of using asymmetrical tactics. This game ended 6-0 to my team but that wasn't a game to dwell on, the B team currently on Football Manager have very few real players. The next game against SK Slavia Prague again where I used the asymmetrical tactic but got given a lesson in what it's going to take to play in the top tier of Czech football with the game-ending in 0-3 loss.

After a win and loss. My decision to use asymmetrical tactics stopped there. I decided to adopt the approach of Ole Gunnar Solskjær when he first joined Manchester United.

A basic 4-3-3 formation which emphasizes on creativity. Wingbacks that bomb forward to provide crosses, the midfield work hard to generate chances, the forwards the also work hard with two Advanced Forwards and a central False 9 that provides support to the midfield.

This tactic was used through the remainder of pre-season with slight adaptation involving moving the wider strikers to wingers to provide more width and solidarity to the defensive third who also have the support of a Defensive Midfielder when I was to see games through the end. I also changed the style of play from a pacey direct style to a tiki-taka style of play where the passing approach is more considered and the team have more possession of the ball to generate chances from open play.

Even with the slight adaptations, the team was able to see the remaining games of pre-season unbeaten having fought out wins against 1. FK Příbram (3-1), polish side Ślęza Wrocław (3-0), Slovakian team SKF iClinic Sered (2-1), Czech team Union Celakovice (2-0), Slovenian team NK Maribor (4-1) and finally two Czech teams 1. Holický FK Olomouc (2-0) and SK Kladno (1-1).

After this per-season, I felt the team was ready for the upcoming league games with the board having set the target of finishing mid-table I was confident that this could be achieved. But, let's face it, I'm not one to settle for mid-table.

Outside of the players, the club went through of change during pre-season. I was happy with the majority of staff that the club had to so waved the cheque book and mutually terminated the contracts of the majority of the backroom staff.

I brought in coaches that could cover (as best as possible given the quality available) all the training purposes.

I consider the most essential task when starting a new save to be the hunt for the best coaches and backroom staff. This kicks off as soon as I’ve done an overview of the current coaching team. Coaches should be targeted to improve the level of training, hereby the development of the players while reducing the workload of the specific training aspect, which further improves the quality of training.

By appointing a team of entrusted coaching staff you will be one step closer to establish a football philosophy and an overall vision for your new club, either it’s to improve the clubs level of professionalism

The coaching team improved dramatically with the addition of a better fitness coach, better of Head of Development, better Assistant Manager and better coaches. As you can see, improvements need to be made with the Goalkeeping Coach who is currently a Player/Coach and quite frankly isn't good enough. At the end of the season, he'll be gone (as of yet, he doesn't know this).

With the improvements to the coaching team, you can see that I've brought the quality of coaching above the level for the league that the club plays in.

Not only did I make improvements to the coaching team. The recruitment team has improved the most. The scouting team is the best in the league following the addition of a new Chief Scout and two new Scouts. I also brought in my own Director of Football and Technical Director to support me with play recruitment.

To better support tactical development and player development, I brought in a lone Chief Data Analyst who has improved the data analyst exponentially.

Finally, the Medical Team improved with the additions of a Head Physio, Head of Sports Science accompanied by a Physio and Sports Scientist which has improved the ratings of Medical Team for both the club and comparison across the league.

The final thing I'd like to look and it fits well with the improvements to the backroom staff. Player transfers, only one player left the club for a fee of £20,000. In terms of incomings, I've brought in a plethora of players in the hope of improving the club for the upcoming season.

Players that joined before I took over include Brazilian Guttiner and Czech Goalkeeper Milan Svenger on loan from 1. FK Příbram.

From when I joined, I looked to build a squad under my own vision. I needed players that would fit my philosophy.

Montenegrin striker Petar Jovovic, Czech players Rostislav Vokac (CM), Tomas Micola (CM), Erik Sykora (ST), Ondrej Vrzal (LB), Jan Havlena (CM), Jakub Chleboun (CB), Lukas Ric (DM), Michal Matejovsky (CM), Petr Krejcik (CM), Martin Jursa (RM), Robert Holek (ST), , Miroslav Mach (ST), Jakub Kopriva (ST) and German player Tilmann Jahn (CM) all joined on Free Transfer. Yes, that's a total of 15 players but some of the players that joined the club are players that will play for the B Team and the U19s as I've given the responsibility of finding players for those teams to the respective managers and Head of Youth Development.

Players that join the club on loan this season include Bosnian Imad Rondic and Michal Hosek from SK Slavia Prague as well as Jakub Sural from FC Zbrojovka Brno.

Most of the transfers went through in the lead up to the upcoming season so I had the time to settle the players in to support Squad Dynamics. Over the season we'll see how the team is doing in terms of cohesion.

In my mind, the club is set and ready for the season ahead.

 

[Tracksuit Manager]

Love the update mate, really like the formation your playing. Looking forward to see how you get on! ??