The general manager of the national football team, Pavel Nedvěd, took the Istanbul course on Tuesday. That he would set out to rope as the successor of Ivan Hašek to the Turkish coach Nestor Fatih Terim? It seems so, even though FAČR does not comment on the selection of the new coach of the national team.
The regular line Prague – Istanbul had a special guest on board on Tuesday. Nedvěd, owner of the Ballon d’Or of France Football, sat quietly by the window and did not want to attract attention. But he did not escape the attention of other passengers. Of course, his face is known all over the world.
Why did he go to Turkey’s biggest city?
Official sources are silent on the purpose of his journey on the border between Europe and Asia. However, it doesn’t sound too likely that he would wander alone to relax in the heat.
Especially not at a time when he is tasked by the management of the football association to urgently find the head coach of the national team.
“The association wants to have him by January,” agree well-informed people about the goings-on at the Strahov headquarters.
So there is no time to waste.
“Bridge coach” Jaroslav Köstl is rehearsing the World Cup qualification finals in November with San Marino and Gibraltar, but the March playoff, in which Souček and co. bite through, a full-fledged new coach is already to lead.
What else do we know?
The first man of domestic football, David Trunda, announced that Hašek’s follower will be an expert from abroad and that he will be selected by general manager Nedvěd.
As soon as he said that, speculation placed Terim, the seventy-two-year-old Turkish coaching doyen, among the most serious candidates. And it is Nedvěd who is sitting on the plane to Istanbul at the end of the week.
They are known from Italy and al-Shabaab
It cannot be deduced from this that Terim would really appear on the bench of the Czech national team. However, we cannot rule out that this will happen. What does he say for the second option?
His attachment to Nedved. Both worked in Italian football. Nedvěd played in Juventus, where he then moved to the management of the club.
Terim was involved in the management of Fiorentina and AC Milan. However, he celebrated his greatest triumph as the coach of the Turkish national team, which he led to bronze at Euro 2008.
But what is most important – Nedvěd and Terim spent a short time together in a club in Saudi Arabia. The first was a coach in al-Shabaab, the second came there in the position of sports director.
“Pavel Nedvěd has a special meaning for me. He was at Juventus, while I was at Fiorentina at the time. A fantastic player. I am very happy to work with him,” Terim beamed with happiness at the time.
Even though their cooperation lasted less than half a year, close ties persisted. In addition, Terim is currently free after the end of al-Shabaab’s bench.
His plus is experience. He won eight Turkish championship titles, in 2000 he even won the UEFA Cup with Galatasaray Istanbul. But in recent years, he hasn’t made any headway into the world as a coach.
“Friendly” gas discount?
The second obstacle?
Money. Renowned foreign coaches are used to receiving appropriate remuneration. Even half a million crowns would not dazzle them. At the same time, the account of the football association is not overflowing with funds.
That’s why speculations about the move of German international Jürgen Klinsmann to the Czech native seem pointless. Let’s not forget that he would not arrive alone, but with a staff of his own specialists.
Do you remember how he brought fitness coaches and psychologists from America to the German national team at the beginning of the second millennium?
That would probably be beyond the strength of Strahova’s budget. The same can be said about the potential lure of interesting foreign coaches, who are currently unemployed, but still have contracts with clubs that prematurely recalled them from the teams.
FAČR would have a hard time paying the severance pay for them.
But back to Terim.
We can only speculate about whether he would give Nedvěd a “friendly” discount on gas. It is similar to the question of how many experts the implementation team would have.
However, he has one significant handicap.
The first man of Czech football, Trunda, repeatedly emphasized the need to maintain continuity and conceptual work at the national team. A coach born in 1953 does not fit this plan very well. Would he have enough energy to make progressive changes? And could he translate development trends into practice?
The coach of the champions in Poland was burnt to death
The Poles believed in this when they hired Fernando Santos (born 1954) to the national team in January 2023. He reached the gold with Portugal, led by Cristiano Ronaldo, at Euro 2016, but he was completely burned out by gunner Lewandowski and his companions.
He lasted only six games on the bench. The balance of three wins and three defeats was not so threatening, but his neck was broken by the results in the qualifying matches for advancement to the European Championship. Poland, as the group’s main favourites, suddenly languished in fourth place with six points from five matches.
Disagreements with some of the players and with the management of the union came to the fore. That couldn’t help the fact that Santos always came to Poland just for a spin. Everything culminated in a stormy breakup. At first Santos refused to resign, but finally, after difficult negotiations, an agreement was reached.
It is necessary to think about all this in advance.
Whether Nedvěd negotiates with Terim or someone else.
