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We
tracked down former Rangers 'keeper Jan Stejskal to his
home country and were delighted when he agreed to
conduct this interview by email. We'd like to thank Jan
for taking time out of his day to do this for us and
also thanks are due to Lenka Raková at Sparta Prague for
acting as our translator.
QPRnet.com:
How did your move to QPR come about and what did you
know about the club before you joined?
JS:
I knew of QPR but didn’t know much about them, other
than that they were a good English club. Don Howe was in
charge at the time and he offered me the chance to sign.
The main challenge for me to start with was the learning
the language, that was the biggest problem. I also found
the style of play very different to that in the rest of
Europe and that took some getting used to.
QPRnet.com:
You played in the QPR side that finished 5th
in the Premier league, was it frustrating to see players
leave a promising side rather than the club building on
the side to improve it?
JS:
I think that QPR will always struggle to keep good
players when there is money to made from them. I didn’t
see it as frustrating because I believed that that for
each player we lost we still had a good squad even after
they left.
QPRnet.com:
You played under Don Howe and Gerry Francis at QPR, how
did they compare as managers?
JS:
The biggest difference for was the training. Under Gerry
the physical preparation was much more intense than with
Don Howe. I obviously spent a lot of time working with
Phil Parkes, who was the goalkeeping coach at QPR back
then. He was a good person and a good coach, some of his
training ideas I use today for my players.
QPRnet.com:
You and Tony Roberts swapped the number one shirt on
many occasions, did you have a good relationship with
Roberts and was there a friendly rivalry?
JS:
Certainly there was a rivalry but it was extremely
friendly. Of course each of us wanted to be number one
but we were good friends. We always roomed together
during away trips we were competitive with each other
but still friends.
QPRnet.com:
What game was your best performance or favourite game
with QPR?
JS:
I couldn’t put it down to one game, however the main
games that come to mind were the great wins at Old
Trafford against Man United and at Ainfield against
Liverpool.
QPRnet.com:
You left the club in 1994, what and joined Czech club
Slavia Prague. What have you done with yourself since?
JS:
I continued to play up until 1999 after I retired I
became goalkeeping coach at Sparta and now I do the same
job for the Czech national team as well. |