“It should be the ambition of every management to play with the youngest players possible. I am of the opinion that the best have always played in Pilsen. I believe that in the future we will succeed in working youth boys into the A-team. “This has not always been our strong point,” Šádek admitted. According to him, this step does not mean the quick end of older players in Pilsen. “But the end of purchases of these players for sure,” added Šádek.
One of the new owners of Pilsen, 57-year-old Swiss Martin Dellenbach, has been intensively dedicated to the development of young footballers since 2010. Three years ago, he became head of FC Basel’s youth team, and in 2022 he joined the Austrian Premier League club TSV Hartberg, where he is building and managing a large academy. It has been compared to the famous Red Bull Salzburg academy. It is likely that he will place great emphasis on the professional functioning of youth in Victoria. Will there be changes in the coaching positions?
“The time has come for the new shareholders to analyze how Viktorka works with youth. How capable the individual trainers are, how they can react to the stimuli that will come from the new owners. So there will be no fundamental changes in the first half of the year,” said Šádek, who is firmly convinced that youth work in Pilsen is at a high level.
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“But everything can be done better. There are many things we will want to do differently. But not anytime soon. So it is not now about the arrival of new coaches and people. The owners will know the current state, then we will react in time. I believe that the coaches perceive the path we want to take,” added the current club chairman of the board of directors.
Pilsen has always been a poor relative compared to Prague S, economically many times weaker. The best young players were bought by Slavia and Sparta, Viktoria had to reach for a cheaper, i.e. “older” option. It currently has the second oldest squad in the top competition (average 27.21 years). Only Bohemians Prague have an older team (average 28.23 years).
“But be careful, don’t take my word for it. An extraordinary situation may arise when an experienced player from the starting line-up drops out for a longer period of time, and we will not be able to replace him from our own portfolio of players. Then we’ll have to bring in a player who doesn’t fit into our philosophy,” Šádek said, adding that Pilsen will continue to not engage in financial competition with Prague’s rivals.
“It is a question of our scouting, how we set it up so that we can discover young players on the market before our rivals. We want to educate youngsters rather than buy them from other clubs,” said Šádek.
