354: Pavel Srnicek, Newcastle United, Merlin’s Premier League 97 Official Sticker Collection

The 1990s are back everyone. For many of us this could be some of the best news we’ve had in a while. After all, according to this blog at least, there were some exceptional footballers around in the last decade of the twentieth century and some of them did some pretty incredible things both on and off the pitch. By all accounts there were some fairly great bands whom emerged in this period across a range of genres too. Sadly neither of these things are particularly prevalent in this 1990s resurgence and the likes of Alan Shearer, Roberto Baggio and Andy Turner aren’t dusting off their boots for one last moment of magic. Walk along any high street (or look at Instagram or TikTok if you’re young and cool) and you will see that nineties fashion, from bucket hats to cargo trousers, has well and truly returned.

Not all aspects of 1990s attire should be consigned to Leon Trotsky’s “dustbin of history”. As well as providing us with some of the best footballers of all time the decade also brought about some of the finest football shirts ever to grace the beautiful game. We all have our personal favourites with the Juventus away kit of 1994/95 and Coventry City’s 1996/97 red and black check effort being up there in the pantheon for me. It’s been good to see a lot of clubs jump on the nineties throwback wave in recent seasons and put out some suitably questionable kits especially in the face of the genuinely offensive range of Puma third shirts unleashed on the world this summer. Crystal Palace, clearly not cool enough for the market knock off t-shirts provided to Manchester Blue and San Siro Red, got off quite lightly with their Puma third kit which looks more like a tribute to the great Blackburn Rovers side of 2014/15 rather than a reimagining of the 1861 jersey worn when the Eagles were apparently becoming the first ever football club.

Slightly disappointingly modern goalkeepers’ jerseys are yet to rescale the dizzying heights of the 1990s. Inspired perhaps by maverick Mexican shot stopper Jorge Campos, who designed his own eye-catching/watering kits, the sporting goods manufacturers of the period produced some of the greatest keepers kits ever seen for both clubs and international sides. There really are too many to choose from in this particular category with Le Coq Sportif’s efforts for Coventry and Umbro’s templates for Everton and Nottingham Forest worthy of a mention in dispatches. However, I feel that Adidas well and truly came out on top in this particular tussle with some genuinely exceptional efforts for the likes of Liverpool, Palace and Newcastle United. For more on this I would strongly recommend a visit to the Museum of Jerseys which will cost you nothing in either admission or travel.

My absolute favourite can be seen above modelled by the late great Pavel Srnicek during the 1996/97 season with a silhouette of the iconic Tyne bridge set against a sunset background. You might criticise this and say it looks a bit too much like an extension of the Newcastle Brown Ale logo (which effectively it is) and Andy Goram reportedly went out of his way to avoid wearing the similar design provided to Rangers but both you and the former Scotland keeper would be wrong. Sadly this would be the only season the Toon Army would wear this masterpiece as they once again came second to a rampant Manchester United but the kit made as much of a lasting impression on me as the city of Newcastle did on Czech goalkeeper Srnicek.

Having arrived in Newcastle in 1991 Srnicek spent seven years on Tyneside where he had long spells as the club’s first choice keeper despite the presence of such luminaries as John Burridge, Mike Hooper, Shaka Hislop and Shay Given. He made over 150 appearances for the club and became their longest-serving foreign player before returning briefly to his hometown club Banik Ostrava in 1998. Within a few months he was back in the Premier League with Sheffield Wednesday to provide cover for the injured Kevin Pressman. During his second season he saved two penalties in one game against Aston Villa, denying both Paul Merson and future Homes Under the Hammer star Dion Dublin, but the Owls still managed to lose the game 2-1 in a season where they spent all but the opening day in the relegation zone. He moved on a Bosman to Brescia before brief spells with Cosenza, Portsmouth and West Ham United ahead of a move to Portugal with Sport Clube Beira-Mar. During this time he also collected 49 caps for the Czech Republic and represented his country at the 1997 Confederations Cup and Euro 2000.

When Shay Given picked up a stomach injury in September 2006 then Newcastle manager Glenn Roeder signed Srnicek on a short-term deal and, when the Irish shot stopper went down injured against Tottenham Hotspur in December of the same year, Srnicek returned to the St James’s Park pitch to a standing ovation. Three days later he played his last game for the club against Bolton Wanderers in a 2-1 defeat but remained as part of the squad until the end of the season. He retired from playing shortly after the campaign and turned to coaching setting up his own goalkeeping school and later working on the staff at Czech giants Sparta Prague. Despite his globetrotting career his affection for the city of Newcastle never diminished and in December 2015 he announced his upcoming autobiography entitled ‘Pavel is a Geordie’.

Tragically a few weeks later Pavel Srnicek suffered a cardiac arrest while out jogging in his native Ostrava and passed away after nine days in an induced coma due to the irreversible brain damage he had endured. His funeral in January 2016 was attended by former Newcastle teammates Steve Howey and Steve Harper as well as former Czech Republic players Ludek Miklosko and Pavel Nedved. It’s not unusual for foreign players to be taken to the hearts of English clubs but Srnicek’s relationship with the city of Newcastle clearly went far deeper than his on-pitch performances. Often players are told they’re not worthy to wear the shirt of a particular club but in the case of Pavel Srnicek there probably isn’t a more fitting model for one of the greatest goalkeeping jerseys ever created.