Former league forward Pavel Fořt said goodbye to his professional career with a championship title with Viktoria Plzeň. In his career, he scored goals for Slavia Prague, or the German clubs Bielefeld and Dresden. In an interview with Ruik, he recalled his playing career and revealed what his reaction was when he learned about the engagement in Viktoria Plzeň.
You spent the most successful period of your playing career at Slavia Prague, where you developed into a key striker and played in European cups. How do you remember your time at Slavia?
Of course, I remember Slavia fondly. I joined the club in my twenties, when Pilsen was not yet as successful as it is today. At that time, the first and second leagues were played there alternately. In Slavia, I got to know great football, where I played cups and got to know great players.
I don’t know if it was the most successful period, but it was the longest engagement. I consider the engagement a success, but I was still young and had a lot of energy. I was happy that I got the opportunity to play for Slavia.
Your performances in Slavia earned you a transfer to French Toulouse. How do you evaluate going to France in retrospect?
I had a good season in Slavia. After a knee injury, coach Jarolím joined the team, whom I remember fondly, even though it was sometimes difficult with him. (laughter) I always needed coaches who were strict with me, and he was sometimes too much. In retrospect, I can thank him for getting me abroad.
I had other offers at the time, but Toulouse stood out to me. Maybe I could have evaluated it a little differently, because the French league is very demanding. So I don’t know if I was the type of striker for the French league, but I was happy for the engagement.
From a two-year engagement in Toulouse, you spent a year on loan in Brussels and half a year in Slavia Prague. At the time, didn’t you wonder why Toulouse actually bought you when they sent you on loan?
I never asked myself why Toulouse bought me. When I came there, the club was in thirteenth place and Johan Elmander was playing in attack. I was supposed to go there already in the summer, but something got stuck there then. In the fall, Elmander scored only three goals and they remembered me, so I transferred there only in the winter.
In France at that time it was played without a break, so I came there for a holiday. I trained individually for the first three weeks, and during that Elmander shot up again, so the coach had no reason to change anything. It was my first foreign engagement, and the language was difficult. I didn’t know English, let alone French.
In Toulouse, you also had a difficult situation in that the striker Gignac, who played in great form, was at the tip of the attack. What impression did he make on you?
The Swedish representative Elmander played there, and Gignac also came. I must say that it was also a nice element. (laughter) So I was pretty close to him. We were pretty good friends. We had a group of about six guys that we went to dinner with.
He was a great striker who had a phenomenal finish. He had some weight issues, but he always put it together somehow. He was one of the best strikers in terms of finishing, but I rather took more from Johan Elmander because he was an exemplary pro.
You finally left Toulouse and headed to Germany, where you agreed to a job in Bielefeld. Why did you prefer Bielefeld to Slavia?
I left Toulouse on loan to Slavia, where we won the title, and then I decided what to do next. I could have stayed in Slavia, but I was always drawn abroad. I liked being abroad and it was my soccer goal. So I got to Bielefeld, where I played with Radim Kučera.
It was a team that had been relegated from the first league and wanted to go straight back up. Unfortunately, we did not succeed and the club also had some financial problems. Germany suited me probably the most out of the jobs where I worked, because football suited me there. I might regret a bit that I didn’t go to Germany straight away when I was in full form.
What impression did the famous Dresden fans make on you?
In Dresden, I fell in love with the city and the fans. It was something incredible, what was happening there, if there was a stadium for more than thirty thousand people, then even a hundred thousand people would have walked there. It was phenomenal, I just have to say that I have never played under such pressure anywhere.
There was no gray area. Either you won and they praised you, but when you lost, you couldn’t even go shopping. It was mostly the women who had to go, because we couldn’t even go almost to the city. But when they won, everything was fine.
The fans were absolutely crazy. When we played outside, they always created a great atmosphere for us. They always cheered for us, and they never whistled at us during a game. They cheered until the end, and when things didn’t go well, they let us eat it after the end of the match. I like to remember that period because I really liked it there. I still go there to matches.
What was your reaction when you were approached by Pilsen in 2016 to help them win the championship in the spring?
I had breakfast at home on the terrace and Horvi called me to see if I was going to train with Viktorka’s A team. So I said that it was fine, because I don’t have training in Domažlice until the afternoon. I also asked him if he would go out for a beer in the evening and watch the Champions League. (laughter) And he told me no, that I’m Viktorka’s player. So I told him what nonsense this is.
So I came there and I was definitely glad because I ended my professional career there. And my last match was for Pilsen against Slavia. So it was a nice farewell to a professional career.
You work as a youth coach in Pilsen, but you also worked for the reserve team. How do you enjoy coaching youth? And you don’t want to coach a first league club, for example?
Well, that’s the question, whether to stay with the youth or try to get into the league manchaft. Now I focus on the youth, because I enjoy working with them. I have some experience that I can pass on to them.
I also coached a junior and a B team in the third league, and I have to say that I had a lot of fun. It was such an adrenaline rush and it’s all about the points. It’s just grown-up football, and the adrenaline is a little bigger than that of the youth. But then again, when you are with the youth, you see how the boys grow. And then you also like to see when one of them succeeds somewhere.
You have experienced many coaches during your career, but what kind of coach are you personally?
I met a lot of good coaches. In youth, coach Žaloudek gave me a lot, who was very strict, and then I was trained by coaches Michálek, Rada, Koubek, Jarolím or Vrba. I tried to take something from everyone. I always needed them to be strict with me.
When I was under pressure, I worked at one hundred percent. When I had a good coach, I abused it a bit. So I try to be a strict coach, but fair.
Source: Ruik.cz
