Jaromír Jágr Addresses Turbulent Period Surrounding Kladno Hockey Club

Their owner Jaromír Jágr apparently put an end to the turbulent period surrounding hockey in Kladno today with his statement on the Rytíř club website.

He put the most important information in the right measure towards the fans, who have been living in Kladno for several weeks through silent mail, about the alleged sale of the club. “Believe me, if there was a serious candidate, I would definitely not turn him down and talk to him. I would only be happy if someone stepped in and helped the club. Unfortunately, no one is like that. I have to dispel any rumors about ex-players or energy tycoons who are said to have offered to buy the club. I even heard different amounts that I should have said for it. Trust me, nothing like that happened. There is no serious interested party, or I don’t know about it.’
Regarding the functioning of the first team, he added: “I realize that it is necessary to achieve sports results, and therefore I want to invest more resources in the team next season with the clear goal of achieving the best possible result. I have to laugh if I read somewhere that I am fine with the current situation where the team plays the playoffs year after year and ends up staying. And it’s not even true that we wouldn’t sign players. I won’t name names, but currently the vast majority of the squad is under contract for next season, or the club can exercise an option on those players. And I also want to disprove the rumors that nothing is happening and no players are being sought. We are always looking for and contacting players. Sports manager Jirka Burger mainly focuses on domestic players, I deal with players from abroad. The goal is to go into preparation with a team that will be mostly complete.”
He added to the hot topic of youth in Kladno: “The existence of hockey youth in Kladno is certainly not threatened. This year is the first when the youth work in a new frame of mind. After the dissolution of the Working Reserves, a new association was founded last spring by mutual agreement between the club and the city of Kladno, which brings together all the youth teams playing under the banner of the Knights of Kladno. Its executives are Martin Vejvoda, Jiří Burger and Jiří Kuchler. I think they are doing a good job, but the results cannot be seen overnight. It will be a longer process. This year was mainly about stabilizing the divisions, and in the future, efforts are being made to prevent the mass outflow of the most talented players to other teams. The current situation is due to the fact that we don’t have juniors in the extra league, which is why players leave from the ninth grade to other organizations. We are working to get the juniors back to the top league. The sports route is a priority, but other options are not excluded. We are working now to create the best conditions for the players, as we can, and we believe that in the near future we will see more players like Vimmer or Trojna, who have already jumped into the extra league and have not been lost.”

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