“I trained with such personalities as Antalík, Zajaroš or Mikloško. I enjoyed it a lot,” recalled Jarábek, who returned to the Moravian-Silesian region after many years. As coach Karviné.
The first engagement in Silesia lasted sixteen months and ended in the spring of 2021. At the end of this September, the 61-year-old native of Trnava took over the league rookie team for the second time.
What was your reaction when you received an offer from Karviná to come back?
When I had to leave then (in March 2021, when the team won only one of ten games over the last Opava – note author), I was not thrilled. But the management decided so and I had to accept it. I was happy to be back, it’s closer to home and the Czech league has its own name. For a Slovak coach, it is an honor to work in the Czech Republic.
Did you take a second chance as a small excuse?
But not at all. I have good relationships everywhere I have worked. Luboš Vlk and I called each other, talked about various players. I never burn bridges. Such is the life of a coach. We still have the cable packed. The trainer is responsible for the results and the decisions of the owners must be accepted. It will always be about results. Nobody wants to lose, and that’s just the way it was.
In Karviná, you are the most successful coach in terms of percentage. Were you the obvious choice, now that she’s a little drooling?
Seriously? I worked well in Karviná and I did not register at all whether we were the most successful. But I know it was a good time.
Shortly after returning to Karviná, you remarked that it was as if you were coming back after a vacation. Did you really feel like you were coming home?
Yes, I know everything here. I also have family in Karviná. My wife’s sister lives here, so I often went to Karviná. I like it here and from this point of view it’s like coming home.
You took over the team in a situation where you can no longer build it according to yourself. What players did you find in Karviná?
I accepted this situation. Karviná won the second league, advanced, most of the players stayed. There are a lot of skilled footballers, but they need time. Karviná has a good team.
Was the mood in the cabin good after the league failures?
But yes. The first days were hectic, but I think we managed to put it together well and managed it at home with Liberec. It’s a shame about the match in Budějovice, which wasn’t bad either, we weren’t worse. The decision was made by a mistake at the end, which shouldn’t have happened to us, but unfortunately it did.
It is assumed that Karviná will be among the teams fighting for survival. What’s it like to sit on a keg of gunpowder again?
(Smile) I’ve had enough. I’m such a stable coach, I’ve been in clubs for quite a long time. I believe in my work, I believe in the boys, but football is like that, you can’t replace ten players.
There are a lot of foreign players in Karviná. How do you work with such a cabin?
There are very interesting players here. Working with foreign players is sometimes more difficult, but it can be done. With a few exceptions, everyone speaks English these days, so that’s not a problem. We had enough foreigners here even during my first tenure. I am fluent in languages, I have no problem communicating with them.
Shouldn’t the skeleton of the Czech, but also, for example, Slovak teams, be made up of local footballers?
Sometimes clubs are forced to buy abroad because talent from Africa or the Balkans is easier to acquire than to develop their own. Those players take the engagement as an intermediate step to make themselves visible. Well, clubs live off their sales. It’s completely normal all over Europe today and it’s up to each team how it’s set up.
He gave up part of his salary because of Karviná
You left Montenegro prematurely and you said that you had things set up like that there. Did you have an exceptional position there?
The owner of the club, Pal Dreshaj, loves football a lot, but it is not a problem to replace, for example, four coaches in a year. That’s why I put a clause in my contract that if an offer came, I could leave. It wasn’t on paper, but the owner promised me it. I’m glad that when the offer came, he didn’t give me problems. I had to give up some finances, that’s clear, but otherwise I thank the owner and the entire Dečič Tuz for letting me go to Karviná.
In addition to Montenegro, you also trained in Georgia, where you won the league and the cup with Dinamo Tbilisi in 2016, and fought for European cups. Has this been your most successful engagement so far?
I’ve already done a lot, but yes, we won the cup there, so from that point of view it could be considered the most successful stint. That team had quality, but I dare say that if I have good material, I would go high everywhere. I believe in this. If the coach has the opportunity to build the team, it is a big advantage. This was done in Trnava or Zlaté Moravce, but also in Seredi, where I went after the end in Karviná. We put together a good team there too and were able to play European cups. But we couldn’t because of the unsuitable stadium. I continued to Skalica, where I brought seventy percent of the current players. I like to work where they want me, that’s my philosophy.
Where was your best place to live? In Georgia, where you achieved success, at home in Slovakia, in Karviná, or was it the Black Mountain?
In Montenegro, it is a phenomenal country. Mountains, sea, wonderful people. When we had time off, we always knew where to go. Life is really good there.
And football was also good? Did the local players want to train? It is often said about football players from the Balkans that training is not their hobby.
This is the holy truth, because in those high temperatures it is almost unthinkable to train after ten in the morning. So we always trained in the evening at half past eight. Two-phase trainings were exclusively in air-conditioned gyms. It’s a big problem to set it up there somehow. The guys are up there late into the night because of the heat, so the biorhythm is bad. But we set some things up for the boys and those who want to move somewhere, they accepted it. The others will probably only play in the Montenegrin league their entire career.
Dečič Tuzi is not a well-known club. What did you know about him?
There wasn’t much, and before we nodded to the offer (with assistant Branislav Mráz), we checked the club and the owner. They are now playing in the Montenegrin League for the third year, they have ambitions, they are building a new stadium, they have tasted the European Conference League twice now. The club is well financially secure, the owner is a Montenegrin Albanian. There is mainly an Albanian community living in Tuzi and the people there are very passionate about football. I think it was worth going there. It gave us a lot in terms of getting to know the character of the Balkan players. Now they are first in the league, so I think we have done a good job in those seven months.
Did it make you happy that the team won both games after you left?
We set up a slightly different game system there than what they are used to in Montenegro. Most of the teams, except maybe FK Budučnost, play defensively. On the contrary, we played actively and so far it is paying off. I wish them a long time.
We lived not far from Bazal, it was a magnificent stadium
Your father is a former coach, for example of Baník Ostrava, Stanislav Jarábek. Did you have a clear line that one day you would also be a football coach?
It never even occurred to me. But when I ended my career around the age of thirty and went from Bad Gleichenberg in Germany to the regional competition near Vienna, I had to be a playing coach there as well. When the offer came from Spartak Trnava, where we started to establish sports classes, I switched to training more and more. Then I worked as a youth head coach at Spartak and gradually worked my way up from the youth league, through the junior team, to the A team. I was hooked and I’ve stuck with it.
Did you go to your dad for advice?
Certainly. When I was a player/coach, definitely. My father even trained me. First in Trnava and then for a while in Kroměříž. It was a daily debate and I learned a lot from him.
Sometimes it doesn’t work out when a father trains his son. How was it for you?
He was very strict with me and I didn’t enjoy it very much. When I was young, he didn’t push me into football, I always pushed myself, which is fine. In the end, our paths crossed for a while. He was the coach, I was the player, and later we even trained together. He was the first coach, I led the junior team in Trnava. But the most interesting thing for me was when I was returning with Ružomberok to Jaslovské Bohunice and he worked as my assistant for half a year.
Did you enjoy it?
He enjoyed it, I gave him everything back, he had to listen. That was great (laughs).
Photo: futbalsfz.sk
Stanislav Jarábek at the launch of his book
When your father played in the second football league in Ostrava from 1971 to 1973 for the team VŽKG, later Vítkovice, you were around ten years old. Do you remember that time?
Of course yes. We lived in Vítkovice, I was nine years old and I also went to matches. It was played at the Vítkovice stadium, where Baník plays today. I remember that team very well, they played at the top in the second league and fought for promotion to the highest Czechoslovak league.
Did you become a Vítkovic fan, or did the spirit of Baník breathe upon you in Ostrava?
I got to know Baník better only later, when my father trained him (1983 to 1984). When I was nineteen, he took me to Ostrava to get a taste of adult football. I even completed a two-week training with Baník. I was a league teenager in Trnava and could train with such personalities as Gusto (Augustín) Antalík, Luděk Mikloško, Zdeněk Válek, Petr Zajaroš, Petr Němec. I enjoyed it a lot. I only got a taste of the league later, in 1984 I signed up for the war and played in the Dukla Banská Bystrica jersey.
How did Ostrava, which you experienced as a ten-year-old boy and then as an adult, affect you?
When my father was coaching Baník, we lived just across the river from Bazal. I remember them as a magnificent stadium with huge crowds. European cups were played in Baník at the time, I saw a match with Anderlecht (2:2) and Valencia (0:0). I still remember them.
Have you become a fan of Baník?
No, because I played for Trnava. But the fans of both clubs had and I think still have friendly relations. At both stadiums, the flags of Baník and Trnava flew during the matches. Even the screams can be heard, so I think the company still works.
Dad will be 85 years old in December, do you still talk about football together? Does he talk to you in training or was he never like that?
Now all he has to do is ask about the match, which he is following closely on the Internet. Whether it was the ones in Montenegro or now Karvina. Everyone can see. I try to see him once a week and we like to discuss football. Thank God he is healthy, he is fine for his respectable age. He just stopped going to football because Spartak (Trnava) doesn’t send him a season ticket, so he got offended and doesn’t go (laughs).
Tatínek, among other things the captain of the Czechoslovak Olympic football team from Mexico 1968, wrote a book in 2015 called Neboli jsme still anjeli (We were not still angels). You were at the baptism, do you find it an inspiration for your work?
Not at all, because in it he describes his football experiences from Trnava, where he spent his entire career as a player. Stories with Adamec, Dobiáš, Kuna. It brings out those that have been hidden for a long time. It’s a nice book where fans will find things they didn’t know about.
Will you write a book too?
I’m not going to do that yet (laughs).
Your father won the Czechoslovak league three times with Trnava (1968, 1969 and 1971). Was it your dream to match him?
It was a fantastic era. At that time, I think Trnava won five titles in six years (1968, 1969, 1971, 1972 and 1973). I definitely wanted to achieve that, but I really couldn’t. It was then a dream team around Anton Malatinský, which played in the semi-finals of the Champions League. No one in Slovakia will probably achieve this in the near future.
2023-10-21 13:00:00
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