Pavel Srníček (1968–2015)

[WarrenBartonCentrePartin]

 

Seem to recall him saving a pen away at Spurs from, I believe, Klinsmann.

 

He dived completely the wrong way but it hit his legs and either rebounded to safety or cleared the bar, my memory is hazy.

Think that might have been Hooper? The same game when we went straight up and scored? [emoji4]

 

Was it? If it wasn't then Hooper was on because Pav was sent off having conceded the penalty. Either way, he was involved!

[ToonTastic]

Horrible horrible news. Loved this bloke he totally got the club and the city. So gutted really am. RIP big man, a Geordie hero who shows those dumb fucks who say we only like guys from up here.

[Optimistic Nut]

This has hit me hard. Real hard. I'm going to wear white socks and play in goal for my game on Thursday. Think I'd probably break down putting them on.

 

Make sure you dribble the ball out past the forwards at every opportunity. 

 

I'm sure there was a moment in the Blackburn cup game in the 94/5 season where he sort of shimmied past Sutton & Shearer.

[Matt]

I seem to recall him megging Micky Gray at Roker- did I make that up?

[samptime29]

So sad man, really hurts this one. RIP Pav

[Dr Venkman]

Ugh. Terrible news. Really sad for his family.

[Nattfare]

Rest in peace, Pavel.

 

My thoughts goes to his family.

[loki679]

Terrible news.  RIP Pav.

[Mattoon]

RIP Pav, truly an adopted Geordie and a part of a golden era in our footballing history. Gutted, thoughts go to his family in this tough time.

[maze]

RIP Pavel  :'(

[Guest Howaythetoon]

Ah this is hitting me harder than I thought it would do. For some reason when we were bairns me and my brother we would collect the PL stickers and him and Cole were always rarer to get, so therefore they would be considered much more worthy than anyone else. We knew Cole was because of his goals but back then as bairns Pav was to us what Schemichel was to Man Utd. Me and Wor kid played our own fantasy footy game, we would put all the stickers into categories, keepers, strikers etc. And put a value on each player on the back and give ourselves a 30m transfer kitty. I'm sure we used to value Pav at 3m, 1m less than the Dane and half a million less than Flowers and Seaman. For us he was the 4th best in the league and looking back he probably was. Happy days as a kid, a footy fan and for the Toon. Is there anything we can do as fans, maybe a fundraising page for his family?

[madras]

Much rather a minutes silence than applause. I'm old fashioned and the minutes applause seemed like it only came in after the farce of the princess Margaret silence.

 

Any Pav stories, everyone seemed to meet him. Got a couple but will post when drunker and not on phone. A friend passed away this morning so all in all a shite day.

[Incognito]

 

Seem to recall him saving a pen away at Spurs from, I believe, Klinsmann.

 

He dived completely the wrong way but it hit his legs and either rebounded to safety or cleared the bar, my memory is hazy.

Think that might have been Hooper? The same game when we went straight up and scored? [emoji4]

 

Was it? If it wasn't then Hooper was on because Pav was sent off having conceded the penalty. Either way, he was involved!

Barmby scored a pen past Hooper there in 93 before Pedro scored a last minute winner. Hooper had the goalie spot until Wimbledon tonked us at Selhurst a few weeks later, and he was at fault for at least three. Pav was back the following week. We'd sang Pavel is a Geordie for most of the game even though it was Ruel Fox' debut. Good days.

[Big Geordie]

Interview on 'Football Flashback', back in 2001. Thought this worth sharing;

 

http://www.itv.com/news/tyne-tees/update/2015-12-29/watch-pavel-srnicek-football-flashback-interview/

 

There has been talk of a charity game getting arranged (The Entertainers, which Wraith is involved with) Surely that will still happen now and will all the more likely be played at St James Park, rather than Kingston Park. I know I would go - especially if the cash was going towards Pav's family or his goalkeeping school.

 

He was only 5 years older than me, and it's made me realize that I'm at an age where this kind of thing sadly happens. Why such a good man was taken so early, and yet so many cunts get to live far longer. There's no justice.

 

 

[Guest neesy111]

Much rather a minutes silence than applause. I'm old fashioned and the minutes applause seemed like it only came in after the farce of the princess Margaret silence.

 

Imo it should be a minutes silence for when someone dies unexpectedly like this.

[Guest neesy111]

Seem to recall him saving a pen away at Spurs from, I believe, Klinsmann.

 

He dived completely the wrong way but it hit his legs and either rebounded to safety or cleared the bar, my memory is hazy.

Think that might have been Hooper? The same game when we went straight up and scored? [emoji4]

 

There was a 3-3 at home to Spurs that a few people I know say was the best game they ever saw in terms of entertainment.

[GM]

Pretty disgusted to get a fucking sales email from NUFC in my inbox two hours after Pav's death was announced. Might've been a nice gesture to suspend their persistent and mercilessly shite e-marketing for at least a night, no? Respect costs nowt, but showing some right now would've meant the world to fans. 

[Guest neesy111]

Shows how life is unexpected and unfair at times.  Get someone like Pav an ex-footballer trying to keep fit having a deadly cardiac arrest but then some people abuse their body of their whole life (smoking, drinking, drugs etc) and live to an old age.

[Guest neesy111]

Pretty disgusted to get a fucking sales email from NUFC in my inbox two hours after Pav's death was announced. Might've been a nice gesture to suspend their persistent and mercilessly shite e-marketing for at least a night, no? Respect costs nowt, but showing some right now would've meant the world to fans. 

 

Might had already been sent out, marketing emails go out in stages.

[Beren]

Awful news, but lovely hearing all your fond memories of him and seeing your photos with the guy. In particular, tooj's pic with Pav's big flop of hair and BG's pic where Pay seems incredulous to find someone taller than him Part of a very special and exciting time for the club and the region. He'll be sorely missed but remembered in the highest regard. Thoughts obviously with those closest to him.

[WarrenBartonCentrePartin]

“Will you speak to my Nanna please Pav? She loves you.”

 

Pavel Srnicek was in the George and Dragon pub in Prague when the question came, midway through Newcastle’s League Cup tie against Manchester City.

 

He laughed and took the mobile, “Hey, it’s Pav here!”

 

Goodness only knows what the reaction was on the other side of the phone, somewhere in Byker.

 

There were 16 Newcastle fans in that bar last year celebrating a friend’s forthcoming wedding, a mix of ages, from early 20s through to mid-50s. They all sang Pav’s name when he walked in. They all wanted a photo. Pavel Srnicek had played for Newcastle during the 1990s, his popularity crossed generations.

 

That should not be the epitaph of a man who had not reached 50 years of age.

 

A fit man, who grew up with nothing in the small Czech village of Bohumin, he made his first goalkeeper gloves with part of an old table tennis bat. Someone who served in the army, who lived life well, someone who caught what their football club meant to the people of Newcastle, who matched the warmth and generosity of a region that grew to love him.

 

It is 20 years since I first met Pav when Newcastle trained at Maiden Castle. I was implored to tell him a relative had called their dog after him. It was a nervous anecdote. He loved it.

 

Sometimes you’re lucky enough to become friends with people you interview.

 

He went on to play almost 200 times for the club. He was just shy of 50 caps for the Czech Republic.

 

There were sometimes battles to win over the heart of the Newcastle manager, but it was never like that with the fans.

 

He was part of the “entertainers” team that took a city on a magical adventure from second bottom of Division Two to the brink of winning the Premiership. When the team won promotion to the top flight in 1993, Lee Clark gave him a T-shirt to wear. It read “Pavel is a Geordie”.

 

It was in writing a book about that period, Touching Distance, that I was in Prague last year. Pav was Sparta’s goalkeeping coach. We went for an afternoon out, a meal, an interview, along with his girlfriend, Liduska. We talked football and life and Newcastle. “I go back to the city for five days every year,” he said. “It’s not enough.”

 

He insisted on paying for everything. He said he would be delighted to come and meet my friends that night. He caused joy in the pub when he turned up. He brought a child’s Sparta Prague strip for my son because you couldn’t get them for children in the club store in the city centre. That was Pav.

 

He had been back to the North-east twice since then, once for a talk-in where fans revelled in his stories, and then earlier this month, with a tour to promote his autobiography, Pavel is a Geordie.

 

He looked as fit as ever. He still looked as if he could have played, as he did in 2006 for Newcastle, when, aged 37, he came on as a substitute at St James’ Park.

 

It was a reception he said he would never forget.

 

And then came a text nine days ago that said Pavel had had a heart attack.

 

Some things don’t make sense. That didn’t. It didn’t seem real. Not Pav.

 

But he had, on a run, where his heart had stopped beating for 20 minutes and his brain had been starved of oxygen. He was found and taken to hospital, where he lay in an induced coma.

 

This afternoon, with his family by his side, the decision was taken to turn off his life-support machine after brain scans on Monday showed irreversible damage.

 

This afternoon, I learned, like the rest of the North-east, that our friend Pavel Srnicek had died.

 

Devastating.  Absolutely devastating.

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/farewell-pavel-srnicek-entertainer-and-hero-you-will-forever-be-a-geordie-a6790066.html

[madras]

Seem to recall him saving a pen away at Spurs from, I believe, Klinsmann.

 

He dived completely the wrong way but it hit his legs and either rebounded to safety or cleared the bar, my memory is hazy.

Think that might have been Hooper? The same game when we went straight up and scored? [emoji4]

 

There was a 3-3 at home to Spurs that a few people I know say was the best game they ever saw in terms of entertainment.

that wa s Hooper I think.

 

Remember Pav made a save v Liverpool at the gallowgate, shot took a huge deflection about the pen spot and he reached it in the other top corner, joint best save I've seen live.

[sempuki]

“Will you speak to my Nanna please Pav? She loves you.”

 

Pavel Srnicek was in the George and Dragon pub in Prague when the question came, midway through Newcastle’s League Cup tie against Manchester City.

 

He laughed and took the mobile, “Hey, it’s Pav here!”

 

Goodness only knows what the reaction was on the other side of the phone, somewhere in Byker.

 

There were 16 Newcastle fans in that bar last year celebrating a friend’s forthcoming wedding, a mix of ages, from early 20s through to mid-50s. They all sang Pav’s name when he walked in. They all wanted a photo. Pavel Srnicek had played for Newcastle during the 1990s, his popularity crossed generations.

 

That should not be the epitaph of a man who had not reached 50 years of age.

 

A fit man, who grew up with nothing in the small Czech village of Bohumin, he made his first goalkeeper gloves with part of an old table tennis bat. Someone who served in the army, who lived life well, someone who caught what their football club meant to the people of Newcastle, who matched the warmth and generosity of a region that grew to love him.

 

It is 20 years since I first met Pav when Newcastle trained at Maiden Castle. I was implored to tell him a relative had called their dog after him. It was a nervous anecdote. He loved it.

 

Sometimes you’re lucky enough to become friends with people you interview.

 

He went on to play almost 200 times for the club. He was just shy of 50 caps for the Czech Republic.

 

There were sometimes battles to win over the heart of the Newcastle manager, but it was never like that with the fans.

 

He was part of the “entertainers” team that took a city on a magical adventure from second bottom of Division Two to the brink of winning the Premiership. When the team won promotion to the top flight in 1993, Lee Clark gave him a T-shirt to wear. It read “Pavel is a Geordie”.

 

It was in writing a book about that period, Touching Distance, that I was in Prague last year. Pav was Sparta’s goalkeeping coach. We went for an afternoon out, a meal, an interview, along with his girlfriend, Liduska. We talked football and life and Newcastle. “I go back to the city for five days every year,” he said. “It’s not enough.”

 

He insisted on paying for everything. He said he would be delighted to come and meet my friends that night. He caused joy in the pub when he turned up. He brought a child’s Sparta Prague strip for my son because you couldn’t get them for children in the club store in the city centre. That was Pav.

 

He had been back to the North-east twice since then, once for a talk-in where fans revelled in his stories, and then earlier this month, with a tour to promote his autobiography, Pavel is a Geordie.

 

He looked as fit as ever. He still looked as if he could have played, as he did in 2006 for Newcastle, when, aged 37, he came on as a substitute at St James’ Park.

 

It was a reception he said he would never forget.

 

And then came a text nine days ago that said Pavel had had a heart attack.

 

Some things don’t make sense. That didn’t. It didn’t seem real. Not Pav.

 

But he had, on a run, where his heart had stopped beating for 20 minutes and his brain had been starved of oxygen. He was found and taken to hospital, where he lay in an induced coma.

 

This afternoon, with his family by his side, the decision was taken to turn off his life-support machine after brain scans on Monday showed irreversible damage.

 

This afternoon, I learned, like the rest of the North-east, that our friend Pavel Srnicek had died.

 

Devastating.  Absolutely devastating.

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/farewell-pavel-srnicek-entertainer-and-hero-you-will-forever-be-a-geordie-a6790066.html

Really well-written but sad to read.

[Norseman]

Awful news this. RIP

[joeyt]

Pav's smile on BG's photo is class