229: Jan Stejskal, Queen’s Park Rangers, Merlin Shooting Stars 1991/92

We are very pleased to present our first ever, but hopefully not last, guest post from Rob Spooner who many of you will know from the excellent Shooting Stars account on Twitter. Rob has provided us all with some great nostalgic imagery over the last few years and has given us plenty of inspiration. It’s great to have him on board and, by diving in with an international goalkeeper with cult hero status in two countries, he’s certainly hit the brief. Thanks for getting involved mate. Enjoy!

A privilege to do a guest spot for this amazing blog. The topic could not be wasted. In the modern game there are so many foreigners in the top tier of English football but back in August 1992 foreign players were more of a rarity. On the opening weekend of Sky’s Whole New Ball Game only thirteen non-British or Irish players appeared. Four of those were goalkeepers: Manchester United’s Peter Schmeichel, Ipswich Town’s Craig Forrest, Wimbledon’s Hans Segers, the only foreign player in Sky’s launch advertising campaign, and Queen’s Park Rangers’ Jan Stejskal.


Stejskal was one of three Czechoslovakian international keepers in the English game but the only one in the top flight as West Ham United’s Ludek Miklosko and Newcastle United’s Pavel Srnicek were playing in the second tier. Stejskal arrived at Loftus Road in 1990 having played for his nation at Italia ‘90 amid some claims he was the keeper of the tournament - an award actually won by Argentina’s Sergio Goycochoea.

His wife was pregnant but that didn’t stop him seizing his chance to come to England. He made his debut against Leeds United in the game that Roy Wegerle scored the goal of the season. Things didn’t start brilliantly for Stejskal as he struggled to adapt to the English game and the pressure of replacing a true great in future Dancing on Ice legend David Seaman. He even lost his place to Tony Roberts and had to battle against the Welshman to claim the number one shirt.

By the dawn of the new Premier League in 1992, however, Stejskal was established as QPR’s number one. He was front and centre of Sky’s new project playing in the first ever Monday Night Football against Manchester City, who featured one of the few other foreigners in the top flight: Dutch defender Michel Vonk. The game finished 1-1 with Andy Sinton rescuing a point for QPR after David White put City ahead. As the season developed Stejskal lost his place and would stay for just one more year at Loftus Road. He played 107 times in the League for QPR before he returned home to the Czech Republic to play for Slavia Prague. Having previously played for arch-rivals Sparta this could have been a mistake. However, Stejskal performed well and remains a hero at both clubs.

When reflecting on his time in England Stejskal highlights two games as his fondest memories. Both wins away at English football powerhouses. The first the occasion of the famous Dennis Bailey hat-rick at Old Trafford on New Year’s Day 1992 in a 4-1 Rangers win and a less celebrated but iconic 3-1 victory at Anfield secured by a goal from sub Clive Wilson.

So there you have it, Jan Stejskal, goalkeeper, foreign player trailblazer, World Cup star who played in some iconic games. And a trained mechanic to boot. Remembered fondly in West London with some QPR fans only rating Seaman and Phil Parkes above him in their history. One of the few foreign players in the early 90s he couldn’t have realised that he was one of a group that began to change the landscape of English football. (Bosman helped a bit…)

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