Tikka Mezzala

If there is a benefit to missing out on Champions League football, it's that the experience of playing at a level more in tune with your capabilities is much more enjoyable. The Europa League and the Conference League had been relatively happy hunting grounds for us in years gone by, and I think the name Bohemians Prague commanded respect at these levels around the continent. That being said, our first experience of the Europa League in 2030 was almost a disastrous one! In the first leg of our qualifier with Farense, we went down 1-0. The Portuguese side defended extremely well and denied us many clear efforts on goal. They continued their stubbornness in Prague, but we managed to overcome them after a war of attrition. The Playoff tie against Wolfsberger also saw us lose the first leg away from home, but the second leg was much more straightforward than in the previous round. A 4-0 win against the Austrians sent us into the League Phase. It was in the League Phase where we probably attained our most impressive result to date: a 5-1 home win over Premier League Brighton and Hove Albion. This was a game that got the football world talking! We set ourselves up boldly, with nothing really to lose in the opening fixture, and caught Brighton by surprise. We followed the win up a week later by hammering Club Brugge 4-2. Wins in Yerevan and Belgrade, and a respectable draw in Lisbon gave us a very good chance of getting through to the next round of the competition. Unfortunately, we soon experienced our first defeats against Austria Vienna and Lille, but a comfortable win at home to Swedish outfit Djurgardens qualified us for the playoffs. Our reward for our League Phase efforts was a mouth watering Prague derby! A two-legged tussle with Sparta! The match at Letna saw us gain a slight advantage by avoiding defeat, although we probably could have finished the tie on that very night! We missed a boat load of chances and let Sparta off the hook. But at Ďolíček, we made sure there was no doubt about who the number two side in the country was! There is something of significance about beating Sparta in Europe for the rest of the continent to see. It felt like we were letting everyone know that the Slavia/Sparta era was well and truly over. Our European adventure came to an end in the round of sixteen against FC Koln, however. The first leg defeat, by a score of 1-3, was too much for us to overcome in Germany, despite a valiant effort. Conclusion: our European reputation remained intact. No one would fault us for falling to a Bundesliga side in the knockouts. Our win against Brighton and Hove Albion in the League Phase will be talked about in Prague for years to come! Silverware is the true marker of progress. After eight years at Bohemians, it was time to make sure we always had a realistic chance of adding to our small trophy collection. Last season we missed out on the chance to win back to back MOL Cups. A penalty defeat in the final broke our hearts, but not our spirit! Our run to this season's final was fairly unspectacular. We faced a bunch of lower division teams all the way to the semi-finals. That is where the business was truly done! Our happy habit of besting Slavia Prague in the cup continued as we edged them out in a 3-2 extra-time victory! Viktoria Plzen stood between us and a chance to double our trophy haul, but we made light work of them in the final. 3-0 it finished, and I had further cemented my reputation as a Bohemians Prague Icon! The 2030/31 season will not be remembered for our MOL Cup win. It will not even be remembered for our dismantling of a Premier League opponent. It will go down in history as the year where Bohemians Prague finally supplanted Slavia in a thrilling title race. The story of this season could not be fully understood without mentioning that Jindřich Trpišovský, the man who had overseen Slavia's dominance of Czech football for the last decade or so, left midway through last season to take on the role as Freiburg's head coach. His replacement, Vincenzo Montella, had managed to continue his good work throughout the remainder of the previous season, making sure Slavia finished the job they had started. But in his first full season at Eden, the Italian crumbled in the city of a thousand spires! The change from a 4-2-3-1-DM, to a 4-2-4-DM, while seemingly not too radical a departure, was devastating to Slavia's form. They had gone from 90+ points most years to 79, while we edged them out with 80. For context, both Sparta Prague and I had finished with 82 and 84 points respectively in the previous two seasons, but ended up finishing in second place. This year, 80 was enough to win the title. Despite Slavia's demise, I don't want to create the narrative that they lost the title, as opposed to us winning it. We had built ourselves a team capable of pouncing the moment the opportunity arrived, and this was it! Our time had come! Yes, Jindřich Trpišovský's departure can be seen as pivotal in the turning of the tide, but I would say the seeds of this title were planted eight years ago when I walked through the door at Bohemians. I don't intend to let Slavia get back on top so easily!

Impressive stuff! I usually struggle at first in these divisions. Until I have brought in a bunch of players I trust (those with consistency, aggression, and ability to handle pressure) I can never get things quite right. You've hit the ground running!

Absolutely flying, mate!

After six years of coaching the first-team at Bohemians Praha 1905, I had delivered the first piece of silverware: the MOL Cup. It was a proud moment. The fact that we paired it up with a strong showing in the FORTUNA:LIGA made it all the sweeter. I feel the accomplishment marked a pivotal moment for us. We were no longer just threatening to upset the established order; we were now a credible threat. Slavia Prague might have remained head and shoulders above the rest, but their supremacy did not stretch across the entire domestic scene, as our cup final victory over them demonstrated. The seeds of revolution had been planted. The boys at Ďolíček were plotting to overthrow the elite! Our second place finish in the FORTUNA:LIGA gave us the opportunity to compete in the qualification rounds of the UEFA Champions League. Naturally, if we were to have any chance of catching up with Slavia financially, we would have to start earning our cash from Europe's top table. It was clear that we'd never be able to compete in the competition in any meaningful way, but just being good enough to navigate the qualifiers was all that was required for the financial reward. In a cruel twist of fate, the third qualifying round pitted us against the club of my paternal family: Glasgow Celtic. I am a massive fan of the Bhoys, and I dreaded the prospect of having to knock them out of Europe to progress. The Hoops went into the tie as favourites, given they are seasoned campaigners when it comes to European qualifiers, but we claimed a remarkable 4-2 win at Ďolíček, and then followed it up with a famous night under the lights at Celtic Park. I didn't enjoy beating Celtic home and away, but it was necessary. We had won the family affair, and went through to face Turkish giants Fenerbahce in the playoff. Despite an admirable effort in the home leg, the Turks triumphed 1-2, leaving us hanging on by a thread. But we took to Istanbul with a bold approach and managed to square the game with a 1-2 win of our own. The match went to penalties...and...well...we aren't very good at penalties. So our Champions League dream came to an untimely end at the final hurdle. We were a penalty shootout away from life changing sums of money. Our UEFA Europa League campaign can be viewed in two halves: the first half was remarkable, as we claimed four wins from four, including a famous win in Germany against FC Koln. But the second half of the League Phase brought us four defeats, three of them in Prague. Tottenham, Vitoria and Nottingham Forest all enjoyed their days out in Bohemia, while Celtic claimed their revenge against us in Glasgow. My paternal family were happy at least! Our earlier form had allowed us passage through to the playoff round where we met PSV Eindhoven. The Dutch giants were stunned at the Phillips Stadion, as we emerged with a priceless 1-2 win. We then followed it up with the same scoreline at Ďolíček. The round of sixteen brought us back into contact with one of England's storied European sides, Nottingham Forest. They had beaten us in Prague in January, but found us a different prospect in early March. We emerged from the first leg as 3-2 winners, but the feeling was that this was a one-off victory, and that was proven correct when the English side eased into the quarter finals with a 3-0 win at home. All in all, not a bad Europa League campaign. Some money banked. Some nice wins along the way. We're holding our own in Europe. Having claimed our first piece of silverware the previous season, it was exciting to see us perform so strongly once again in the MOL Cup. Two thumping victories in the early rounds were followed by impressive, but narrow wins against Viktoria Plzen and Slavia Prague in the quarters and semis respectively. It was the third year in a row that we had seen to Slavia in this competition, highlighting the fact that we could now deal with them in one off ties. All of that good work came undone in the final, however, as Mlada Boleslav took advantage of our Achilles heel and beat us on penalties. I was absolutely gutted! The chance to go and win another trophy stared us in the face and we blew it! Not even against one of the big two! Our cup disappointment was matched by our frustration at falling behind Sparta Prague in the pecking order once more. Slavia were still miles off us, but we had been miles ahead of everyone else last season. We clearly didn't capitalise on things, and it felt ominously like the old order was starting to set back in. Sparta would once again have the opportunity to compete in the Champions League at our expense, and if they navigated the qualifiers, the gap between us could grow and grow. While it might be possible to contextualise the season and view it as another impressive display by a club still living on a budget far surpassed by the big two, I could not help feeling that we had regressed. The cup defeat was a bitter pill to swallow, and I was sure we'd finally established ourselves as the second force in Czech football, but clearly that was something of a special season. Was this the true order of things? Had the revolution been put down before it had even got truly started?

Wick-ed! Don't go Brechin our hearts!

The winter shut down lasted from late-December to early-February. It was a chance for us to rest and get some of our injured players back. Historically, we've found the second half of the season tougher and have been slow out of the traps. While we had a cushion between ourselves and third, I wanted to offer the chasing pack no encouragement. Second place was an absolute must. The UEFA Conference League had proven to be a happy hunting ground for us again this season. With a strong league phase showing, we sailed straight through to the round of sixteen. APOEL were our opponents in our first knockout game, and we secured a credible 0-0 draw in Cyprus. This set us up nicely for the return leg in Prague, and we dispatched of the Cypriots quite comfortably. Our reward was a quarter final tie against Dinamo Zagreb. The Croatians were the favourites heading into the tie, but we managed to stun them with a 3-1 win at home in the first-leg. That's where the happy story ends, however. The return leg in Zagreb was an absolute disaster. With an almighty collapse, we succumbed to a 4-1 defeat and crashed out of the competition. It's probably the most disappointed I've been in the team in my time at the club. We completely lacked backbone. Our European disappointment was quickly put to the side as we looked to end our horrible history in the MOL Cup. The club had failed to win the cup even back in the days of Czechoslovakia. With no major honours to our name since 1982, I was determined to finally bring something home. Vitkovice gave us a scare in the quarter final. In a game that we were expected to win comfortably, we needed a late strike to secure passage through to the semi-final. That's where the struggles ended, however, as we comfortably seen off Sigma Olomouc, 0-3, and then delivered the moment of history in the best way possible! The final was officially on neutral turf, but Slavia Prague were getting to play in their home stadium, Eden. With no one coming close to catching them in the league for a sixth straight season, the champions were looking to end their barren run in the cup. Slavia had not won the competition since 2024, and their arch rivals Sparta had won the previous four tournaments. With the league already a formality, Slavia came into the final as heavy favourites, but were stunned by a dogged and determined underdog performance from us! A goal in the fifth minute gave us a shock lead, as we came flying out of the traps. Slavia pushed and pushed for an equaliser, but ran out of steam. In the ninety-fifth minute, the second goal was put away by Jiri Sindelar, a twenty year-old academy graduate who was having the season of his young life! That moment immortalised Sindelar and every other player who stood beside him on the field! After decades of barrenness, the club had finally won a major honour! The fact that it was delivered against our Vršovice rivals made it all the sweeter! Was this a marker laid down in the struggle for supremacy in Czechia, or just an anomaly in the continued dominance of Slavia Prague? Our league form between July and December was outstanding and gave us a good platform to secure second place in the remainder of the season. But we had historically struggled after the winter shut down. It was important, therefore, that we hit the ground running with the resumption of play in February, and we did exactly that with four straight wins in the shortest month of the year. Not only did we produce one of the most remarkable results in my time at the club, a 9-0 demolishing of Jablonec, but we also claimed an important symbolic win away at Sparta Prague. With Sparta languishing well behind us in the table, the win helped to hammer home the message that we were looking to eclipse them as the closest challengers to Slavia, and as the number two team in the Czech capital. Throughout the rest of the season we claimed another win against Sparta, a 7-1 win over Viktoria Plzen, and a 4-0 win over Dukla Prague. But Slavia re-asserted themselves with two wins against us in the league, making up for their cup defeat. The champions were showing no signs of letting up in their league dominance, as they ended the year with another incredible record of thirty-two wins in thirty-five games. The fact that they only conceded fourteen goals all season speaks for itself. What was remarkable about this season from our perspective, though, was the fact that we were so far ahead of everyone else in the race for second place. We might have been well behind Slavia, but we were well ahead of Sparta. This was the second time we had split the big two, and this time it didn't seem like it had come down to Sparta merely having a bad season. We were the second best team in the country by some distance, as our one-hundred-and-seven league goals demonstrated. The key now would be to establish ourselves as the best of the rest longer term and the number two team in Prague, while we waited for some kind of decline from Slavia above us.

The heartbreak against Legia Warsaw in the UEFA Europa League Playoff tie presented us with an opportunity to have another stab at a favourite competition of ours: the Conference League. Without meaning to talk us down, the third-tier of European football is where we belong right now, if we're being totally honest with ourselves. While we held our own in the Europa League in our first run out in the competition, there are far too many teams involved in it that would simply wipe the floor with us, and I'd rather avoid too many demoralising European nights throughout the year. The Conference League brings us together with many clubs of a similarish standing, even if there are still a number of teams who are several steps above us. The aim was to try and get out of the league phase proper, without having to navigate a playoff tie in February. When the fixture list was announced, I considered the Atalanta game to be a write off, and I wasn't sure we'd have much joy against Besiktas or Brondby. As it turned out, we were very unlucky in Italy, and we comfortably dispatched Besiktas and Brondby in a five game winning streak. A win against Scottish side Aberdeen was nice on a personal level, as was the 7-0 win at home to Neman Grodno. Five wins in six saw us sail through to the round of sixteen which takes place in March next year. I mentioned in the previous post that I was aiming to try and bring home the cup this season. So much so that I was willing to play stronger XIs in the cup games than any league games that surrounded them. Despite our emphasis on the tournament, we almost suffered a shock defeat in the third round away at Líšeň. The fourth round would see us come face to face with a competitive rival, Viktoria Plzen. Our games over the last five years have always been close, so I was a little bit nervous having drawn them early in the competition. Thankfully we pulled through in a very even game, winning 2-1, and proceeding to the quarter finals. Our league form ahead of the winter shut down was pretty stellar. Ten wins from twelve games saw us pull ahead of the chasing pack in the battle for second place and a crack at Champions League football. What was most pleasing about the impressive run of form was the fact that we didn't concede too many goals. In my time at the club, we've not been able to really keep the door shut enough, and it has cost us big time. This year we looked like we finally had the backline to help us turn draws and silly defeats into solid victories. With fifty points on the board, eleven ahead of third placed Viktoria Plzen, it would take a monumental collapse in the second half of the season to deny us second. An orderly queue had formed behind Plzen, as Jablonec and Banik Ostrava breathed down the necks of Viktoria and Sparta. Dukla Prague and Mlada Bolesav were also looking at the possibility of participating in the Championship Group towards the end of the season, with European football a possibility for all the aforementioned clubs. The only disappointing thing about the first half of the season was the fact that there was absolutely no let up from Slavia. They had won twenty out of twenty-one games; a record that none of us could get close to. Despite our impressive form, we were still a clear ten points behind Slavia, and struggling to best them in head-to-head games. In my five and a half years at the club, I've maybe beaten them twice (iirc). In order to begin to close the gap it is imperative that we claim second place and try and get ourselves a share of the CL money. It is the only way to bridge the financial gap, which would allow us to then invest in the squad and bring us up to a new level. Second place isn't the only thing we're hoping to accomplish in what remains of the season. There is the small matter of the Conference League, as we look to create more European memories at the club, and of course there is also the MOL Cup, which we've yet to win. Will this finally be our year?

Are you still kicking about in the Highland League somewhere?

I'm now in my sixth year at Ďolíček. Behind me are five years of pleasing progress, mixed in with some frustrations and regrets. We are an established top four team in the FORTUNA:LIGA. We've managed to split Slavia and Sparta on one occasion. We've contested two MOL Cup finals. We've been outstanding in Europe, with a couple of quarter finals and a semi final appearance in the UEFA Conference League. Given the starting point of the save, it's safe to say we are well on our way to helping Bohemians Praha become a much better football club. The fact remains, however, that we have not really closed the gap on Slavia Praha. They are head and shoulders above everyone else, and unless another club from the division can start to get their share of the Champions League money, there is no end in sight to Slavia's dominance. There is also the small matter of silverware: we've had some impressive runs in Europe and the cup, but we have nothing to show for it. The trophy cabinet at the club is looking bare. I'm looking for us to up the ante in the coming seasons and I now believe we are good enough to start placing expectations on ourselves. The money from our European runs has allowed us to put together a young team that is capable of winning something, even if that something might not be the league. I'm targeting the cup in the 28/29 season, and I'll be bitterly disappointed if we once again fall short of achieving it. As we go chasing silverware, our DoF has really come to the fore in the summer window. Here are the big signings that could help take us up a level: All three players are improvements on the options already at the club in their respective positions. All three also offer the potential for a big future sale. So how have things started on the pitch in 28/29? Well, it's been a mixed start to say the least. In the UEFA Europa League Playoff round, we met Legia Warsaw. The chance to gain revenge for our Conference League semi-final defeat to them a few years ago was on the mind. The first leg in Prague saw us triumph 2-1, but it should have been a lot more. A week later we travelled to Warsaw and suffered a familiar fate. Legia won the game 1-0 and took it all the way to penalties. There would be no poetic revenge for us as the Poles triumphed once more by six penalties to five. We were out of the Europa League at the first hurdle, dropping into the league phase of the Conference League instead. In the league, we've had some fantastic wins, a couple of acceptable draws, and a disappointing defeat away at Jablonec, a club that are looking to gain some ground on Viktoria Plzen and us this season. I have been concerned at the way our performances have suffered in the wake of a mid-week European fixture. With six Conference League games in the first half of the season, we might be looking at some silly points being thrown away if this continues. Our set-up this season

Season Five: 27/28 Over the last four years, we had rebuilt the Bohemians squad from an ageing team on the brink of disintegration, to a young dynamic team that were helping us become 'the best of the rest' in Czech football. That meant the summer of 2027 was quite quiet, with a lot of work having already been done in previous windows. The young prodigies leading the way for us in the 27/28 season can be seen here: We managed to navigate the playoff round for the Europa League, meaning we'd be playing at the highest level in Europe since I arrived at the club five years ago. Our reward was a higher calibre of opposition and greater financial incentives. We lost three times in the league phase to teams from the top leagues. But we managed to claim five wins to head through to the playoff round. There, we would meet Cluj once again. A thumping 0-4 win in Romania helped us exorcise demons from the previous year, and despite a spirited fightback in the second leg from the Transylvanians, we sailed through to meet Borussia Dortmund in the round of sixteen. The only thing of note from the Dortmund tie was the fact that we managed to keep the aggregate score respectable. There was very little chance of us pulling off an upset in either game, let alone the tie as a whole. We simply collected our money from the competition and moved on. A decent first year at this level all in all. The MOL Cup once again eluded us in 2028. Across all of the various rounds, we overcame stuffy games to make it all the way to the final, even beating Slavia Prague 4-3 in the semis! But Sparta Prague beat us for the third time in this competition, the second time in the final itself. Having beaten Slavia shortly before, I felt we could possibly pull it off this time, but the curse continues! Slavia Prague somehow improved on last season's league showing, winning all but three games across the entire season. Their superior spending power had made fodder our of the domestic competition, with ourselves, Sparta Prague, and Viktoria Plzen having to content ourselves with second as the top prize. Maybe if one of us could have a few years of CL group stage football, we might be able to build up the funds to properly challenge Slavia in the long run, but for now it seems they are far too good for any of us to get close to them. As for ourselves, we were unable to get back ahead of Sparta Prague, but we are definitely breathing down their necks. It's not inconceivable that we could become the number two power in the country if we can just beat them to second place once, and get into the UCL. If they do that before we do, however, it could be curtains. Let's hope that they fail to navigate the qualifiers!

Season Four: 26/27 Two consecutive runs in the Conference League put us on a strong financial footing. That paved the way for a summer of liberal spending, as the club broke its transfer records, both in terms of overall spend, and individual spend (Jakub Vrabec £3.8m). Despite the transfer spree, we simply could not compete with the big two in the transfer market, especially Slavia Prague who were flush with Champions League cash. After impressing for three seasons, I had decided it was appropriate for me to have some say on transfers moving forward. This wouldn't be a major change, though, as my involvement would only amount to sanctioning the incomings and outgoings. The choice of targets would remain the DoF's. We were now very well adapted to the Conference League, and considered ourselves to be at home in the competition. Navigating the qualification rounds was relatively straightforward as we saw off teams from Hungary, Finland and Norway. Our performance across the league phase was very pleasing as we remained unbeaten throughout our six games. Wins against Austria Vienna, Brondby, Dinamo Minsk, and Sivasspor helped us book our place in the round of sixteen. There was also an impressive 2-2 draw in Lyon to add to our record. When the draw was made for the last sixteen, I felt we had a winnable tie in front of us. But we experienced an injury crisis in late-February/early-March, and this was something that conspired to help Cluj beat us in both legs. While the last sixteen was still a very credible performance for a club the size of Bohemians, I couldn't help feeling disappointed that we never built on our semi-final run the previous year. We went one better in the MOL Cup this time around, but it was our old foes Sparta Prague who beat us in the semi-finals during a tense extra-time period. Having now experienced a quarter-final, semi-final and a final defeat, it was getting to the point where I wondered if we were simply cursed in the cup. Slavia Prague continued to play in a league of their own, winning thirty-one from thirty-five on the road to another league title. Sparta re-asserted themselves as the number two team in the country, despite their poor season the year before. We claimed a fifth consecutive top four finish, ending the year in third, ahead of Viktoria Plzen who were becoming something of a competitive rival for the 'best of the rest' claim. With second place now qualifying for the UCL, we found ourselves with a chance to play a competition up in the UEFA Europa League; a slightly more lucrative competition, with a higher calibre of opposition.

Season Three: 25/26 It was going to be difficult to top our second season. To have any chance of doing so, it would be important for the rebuild to continue with another strong summer window. To the credit of our DoF, he had done some stellar work the previous year, and his choice of signings were every bit as crucial for our good showing as my tactical choices. I had only made one major request in our pre-season meeting: we needed another centre-back to help us shore up the defence. With some decent money banked in our run to the Conference League quarter-finals, the DoF managed to pull off another good window. The arrival of Terence Kongolo on a free transfer from Fulham was nothing short of brilliant. The experienced Dutchman was a step above the rest of our options at CB, and would be crucial in helping us build on our strong league and European showings. With three qualifying round to navigate in the Conference League, it was important to hit the ground running in the new season. We sailed through the qualifiers with minimal fuss, and although we started the league phase with one point from six (albeit an impressive point on the road at Augsburg), a run of four consecutive wins sent us on our way to the round of sixteen. First up was Lech Poznan from Poland. A hearty performance in Poznan allowed us to keep the tie alive for the return game in Prague, a game I felt we could win. The players delivered exactly that, and we headed through to the quarter finals for the second season running. I was sure that we could win the tie against Austria Vienna, but I was a little bit nervous about it. I stood on the precipice of taking the club to a European semi-final, matching the great run from the '82-'83 season. The 0-0 draw in Vienna did nothing to relieve my nerves, but a thumping 3-0 win in Prague brought absolute elation. We were now in a European semi-final, and to make matters even more exciting, it was a winnable tie! Legia Warsaw probably felt happy to draw us, as I felt happy about drawing them. Given the other semi-final was between clubs from the Eredivisie (FC Twente) and the Bundesliga (Augsburg), it was something of a fortuitous draw for the both of us. A well-matched semi-final that would give two unlikely clubs the chance to compete in a European final! It was going to be tense! The first game in Prague was cagey, with neither team willing to take too great a risk. We edged the game in terms of chances, but couldn't convert any of them and had to make do with a goalless draw heading to Poland. The second leg was equally cagey, and despite taking the lead, we would have to settle for another stalemate. This brought it down to the dreaded lottery of penalties. After the first nine penalties were converted, our Italian midfielder, Vittorio Continella, missed the tenth, giving Legia a 5-4 win and a historic moment in their history. For us, it was a repeat of the heartbreak suffered at the hands of Anderlecht way back in the early '80s. I was crushed and didn't feel in a good mood for some time after the defeat. But looking back on it now, this was nothing short of a remarkable run for a club our size, and I've no doubt it would have given my family and the rest of the club's support new memories to cherish. After getting to the final of the MOL Cup the season before, I had set out on a quest to try and bring it home in the near future. Bohemians Praha are a club without any major silverware in their recent history, and the cup represented the best opportunity to change that. Winning it would also give us a marker of our progress. After comfortably navigating the two earliest rounds of the competition, we came unstuck against Brno, a side that were proving to be something of a bogey team for us. It was bitterly disappointing to crash out of the competition at the hands of a team that regularly finished some way below us in the league. But once again, we could be ending the season without adding the MOL Cup to our trophy cabinet for the first time. Despite our cup disappointment, the 25/26 season proved to be remarkable for the above reason: Slavia and Sparta had been split, and it was ourselves (and Viktoria Plzen) who had managed it! This was also another historic best for Bohemians, beating our record of finishing in third place a couple of years ago. In three seasons, I had managed to achieve the two best league finishes in the club's history post-independence. Slavia Prague were still well above the rest of us, however, and finished the year on an incredible ninety points! With Champions League money starting to pile up in their bank account, it was going to be difficult even for Sparta Prague to put a stop to their dominance, let alone us! Second in the league and the semi-finals of the UEFA Conference League marked something of a remarkable year for the club. I felt like we were truly progressing by the year, and it would only be a matter of time before we had something tangible to show for it.

Season Two: 24/25 With my feet firmly under the table and an impressive first-season behind me, I looked forward to my second year at the club. Ahead of the transfer window I outlined what my feelings were with regards to our recruitment focus. I told the chairman and the director of football what positions we needed to look at, and I waited with baited breath to see if they could deliver for me. Unlike the previous summer, the purse strings were loosened and our DoF set about bringing in eight players, all of whom were under the age of twenty-five. I was particularly impressed with the acquisitions of Zurawski, a centre-midfielder from Warta Poznan, and Rovida, a young goalkeeper from Inter Milan's development squad. Both of them would play important roles in helping the team achieve one of its best European results in many a year, a 4-0 win at home to Partizan Belgrade, but they were powerless to avoid a heavy loss at the hands of Sporting Braga in the Europa League playoff round. Despite our exit from the UEFA Europa League, we managed to get ourselves a place in the league phase of the third-tier competition, the Conference League. This allowed us to test ourselves at a more appropriate level. As you can see, we really enjoyed our participation in the Conference League. A favourable fixture list in the league phase allowed us to win all six of our group encounters. Our gung-ho attacking football was on full display throughout, as we scored twenty-four goals across the six games. In the round of sixteen, we re-acquainted ourselves with a league phase opponent in the form of Hearts of Midlothian. I had a personal motivation to win this one, coming from Scotland and supporting Celtic. A thrilling 3-4 win at Tynecastle paved the way for a home win that saw us through to the quarter-finals - the club's best European season since that famous UEFA Cup run in the '80s that my family remember so fondly! Unfortunately, a tricky draw against AS Roma brought about no surprises. The Italians claimed a narrow win in Prague before decimating us at the Olimpico. Despite the heavy defeat, we could hold our heads high in light of our overall progression. This was truly a golden year for the club in European football. The European run was matched by a very impressive cup run, that seen us get all the way to the final of the competition before losing to one of the big two: Sparta Prague. I felt we had equipped ourselves well in the final and were unlucky to lose. But the signs were bright: Bohemians Prague were clearly on the up! Our league campaign might not have been as impressive as the previous year's, but another top four finish allowed us the chance to have another go in the UEFA Conference League. The biggest disappointment from the year had been our inability to handle the demands of trying to balance three competitions deep into the season. Injuries, fatigue, and inconsistency combined to see us fall away from a potential push for second place in the latter part of the campaign. For a second season running, Slavia Prague finished comfortably ahead of the rest. No one had yet lay a glove on them; not even their great rivals Sparta!

Season One: 2023/24 Upon arrival at Ďolíček I found a club in good spirits. The 22/23 season saw Bohemians finish fourth in the FORTUNA:LIGA, their highest ever position in the top flight post-independence. The previous season's efforts earned the club a rare chance to participate in European competition in the form of the UEFA Conference League. I was excited at the prospect of leading the team in Europe, but as I surveyed the squad it became apparent to me that there were major issues that needed to be urgently addressed. Chief among the problems I faced on day one was the age of the squad. Far too many players were the wrong side of thirty, with quite a few of them pushing forty. We even had a midfielder who was forty-two years-old! Consequently, our team lacked the athleticism that would be needed to sustain our efforts at home and abroad. The media prediction for the team was eleventh (out of sixteen teams), revealing that our squad was considered to be in the lower-half for quality. The previous season's fourth placed finish had clearly been a case of the team punching well above its weight. Both of these things combined created an imperative: we had to re-build the team, adding both quality and youthfulness. The only problem was I'd have to rely on the Director of Football to get this vital part of the club's strategy right! The first transfer window proved to be highly ineffectual. With limited resources to use, we only managed to acquire four players, none of whom were first-team ready. It wasn't even clear that any of the new signings would ever be good enough to make the cut - something borne out by the passage of time. As a head coach, I was deeply frustrated by the failings of our director of football, and I privately hoped that the chairman would consider his position moving forward. But I had absolutely no say in the hirings and firings of these roles. On the pitch, our UEFA Conference League dream proved to be short-lived. Despite an incredible aggregate win over Kosovan side Drita, we were handed a brutal draw against Besiktas in the third-qualifying round. The Turkish giants were simply too powerful for us and cruised into the fourth round at our expense. Despite the European dream ending early, things were going quite well on the domestic front. A strong start to the league campaign increased my confidence that our highly experienced team could continue to punch above its weight. The biggest disappointment early in the campaign was the fact that our only realistic chance of silverware evaporated early in the cup, in what I felt was a winnable tie. After a thrilling win against a local rival in the third round, we came unstuck away at Slovacko. Our league form suggested we could hold our own against most teams, and so I felt a cup run was definitely on the cards. It wasn't to be. The highlight of the season was our league campaign. Despite a pre-season prediction of eleventh, we continued to defy expectations and ended up making history, finishing in third-place, a new club record. This was only cemented on the final day of the season in a dramatic encounter with Viktoria Plzen. The old heads of Bohemians had performed admirably, marking a second straight season in the top four. This would give the club another crack at European football, but the coming summer would be absolutely crucial in shaping the next few years. Several players were headed for retirement, and quite a few others had refused contract extensions. The Director of Football would be just as important as me in determining the fortunes of the club in the coming season and beyond!

Bohemians Praha 1905 Czech football, and even Czechoslovakian football before it, has been dominated by two powerful clubs in the country's capital: Slavia Prague and Sparta Prague. Since the Velvet Divorce between Czechia and Slovakia in 1993, only three clubs other than Sparta and Slavia have claimed the national championship: Slovan Liberec, Baník Ostrava, and Viktoria Plzeň. In the thirty years leading up to the beginning of the 2023/24 season, twenty titles have been shared between the big two, with Sparta claiming thirteen of them, and Slavia the other seven. It is no exaggeration, therefore, to say that there is a natural order to Czech football, and there is no ambiguity about who is at the top of it. I was born and raised in Glasgow, but my maternal family hail from Czechia and Slovakia. My grandparents and uncles live in Prague, and their sporting allegiances are with neither of the big two. Instead, they have followed the club of the outsiders - Bohemians Prague 1905. One of the greatest memories my grandfather and uncles possess is the 1982-83 season; a year in which Bohemians won the Czechoslovak First League (their only title) and made it to the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup, beating Admira/Wacker, Saint Etienne, Servette, and Dundee United, before Anderlecht halted their run. Hearing the stories of the time, and visiting Ďolíček to watch Bohemians play on a handful of occasions, has given me a fondness for the club. It also helps that they play in the colours of my beloved Glasgow Celtic. So with a personal connection to the club, and the enticing challenge of trying to topple the more established Prague-based clubs, I decided it was time to head to the motherland and try to change the course of Czech footballing history. As a managerial novice, I felt it was only right that my responsibilities at the club be limited upon my taking over. There is no way a top flight football club are going to fully entrust the running of the entire operation to me. So I've decided that I'll be sticking to the training and tactics and letting the relevant backroom staff handle everything else, from contracts to transfers and staff hires. If I have a lot of success over the years, I'll maybe allow myself to have some more involvement as the club's trust in me starts to grow. But that's something to think about down the line. I have already played five seasons of the save, and so I am actually quite a way through my sixth year at Bohemians as I write this. But in order to bring everything up to date, I'll create summaries for the previous five years and help you to see how things have been developing so far.

Yeah, there are plenty of good clubs across Europe who would provide a similar experience. The Belgian league is fun. Plenty of good competition and young players coming through. Anderlecht have a good youth system too! I'm slowly building up our facilities at Bohemians. The Conference League money has helped massively. But we are still a modestly sized club in a league with limited income, so we are not going crazy.

I've just completed season four with Bohemians Praha. My DoF deals with all the transfers and contracts, my focus is on the coaching and tactics. I think it feels more realistic this way, even though it can be frustrating when you don't get the quality you want. Thankfully, my DoF has done a very decent job on the whole. We started out with an ageing squad and very little depth. But over the last four years we've slowly built a young, dynamic team that is helping us punch above our weight. We've finished 3rd, 4th, 2nd, and 3rd. Season three saw us split Slavia and Sparta, but Sparta overtook us again last season. We also managed to get to the semi-finals of the UEFA Conference League in season three, losing on penalties to Legia Warsaw. It was really exciting to go on a European run with a smaller club. We've also lost two semi finals and a final in the Czech Cup. So we're still waiting on silverware, but the team is building towards it. I'd say this has been a very rewarding save, because it feels realistic and is also giving me the chance to grow the club more organically due to the DoF handling the transfers. You could probably build a better team much quicker if you did all that yourself, but take on the challenge. I'm heading into my fifth year at Bohemians and I would be quite happy just to have us continue to participate in some kind of European competition.

Comandante Marios!

I have to be experiencing some kind of curse. I don't even think I really ought to change the tactics. We won 27 out of 30 in season one, and then 25 out of 30 in season two. Those are title winning numbers most of the time. We ended up losing 2-5 at home to Strathaven three games from the end. We were leading 1-0 until we went down to 10 men early in the game, and then chaos ensued. So had we been better disciplined and not got a player sent off in that game, we could very well have gotten the required result. But that moment changed the course of history. Our only league loss of the season, too. I've never known anything like this.

I feel absolutely gutted to have had such a good season and still miss out on the title. To win 27 out of 30 games, with a team that was expected to finish middle of the pack, and end up empty handed! No words.

Edier Ocampo Luis Marquinez I have dozens of bright prospects across my youth teams, too. But I'll wait to see how they develop and add them should they become proper first-team ready stars.

Some finds from my Atletico Nacional side in Colombia. The club is an absolute talent factory. Tomas Angel (son of Juan Pablo Angel) Oscar Perea Brahian Palacios Andres Salazar

Spring 2025 With only the league left to focus on, Greenock's thin squad could count on plenty of weekends off as they looked to tie up promotion along with the Third Division title. Everything started brightly with two high-scoring wins against Eglinton and Kello Rovers, but it was their draw with Bellshill that actually sealed their place in the Second Division next season. April's first game brought the title after Greenock beat second-place Ardeer Thistle 3-2 at the Ravenscraig Stadium. The celebrations from that game must have been good, because the hangover set them on a three game winless run to round off the campaign. Lanark United claimed a point from them at the end of April before back-to-back defeats against the Vale of Clyde and Dalry Thistle brought the season to a close. Despite their late collapse, it was a very good season for Greenock Juniors who sealed promotion and the title at the second attempt under Rab Kilpatrick. With a tiny squad to contend with throughout the campaign, it was nothing short of miraculous that the Nock came through the season with such a strong league record. With a higher level now beckoning, it was clear that the summer would be pivotal in determining whether Greenock could cope with life in the Second Division. It was the business end of the season, and Port Glasgow certainly showed that they mean business. Four victories and four clean sheets throughout March brought them the title, as well as a place in the Strathclyde Demolition Cup final. But the month ended on a sour note as the Undertakers succumbed to a shock 3-0 defeat away at Neilston. John Maxwell's men might not have a quadruple to chase after the Neilston loss, but their pursuit of a treble remained on course thanks to a 2-3 win in the capital against Edinburgh College. This was followed by a perfect end to their league season with four impressive wins against Renfrew, Larkhall Thistle, Bonnyton Thistle and Threave Rovers. It was their opponents on the final day of the Second Division season who would run out against them in the Strathclyde Cup final. The result was less convincing, but the outcome was ultimately the same as the next part of the treble chase was complete. Up next was Celtic B in the South Challenge Cup. The young Hoops were the current holders and clear favourites to win it again. But John Maxwell had built something special at Port Glasgow, and he and his players would go on to conquer Celtic and get their hands on the trophy, completing the treble and rounding off an incredible year in style.

Winter 2024/25 Port Glasgow's exceptional form continued throughout the winter period. Eleven wins in fourteen games across December, January and February pretty much ensured that they'd be playing at a higher level next season. They also managed to set up three semi-finals across the various cup competitions thanks to their quarter final victories throughout February. The festive period brought two shock cup wins in the form of Port Glasgow's victories over East Stirlingshire and Auchinleck Talbot. These wins cemented the idea that John Maxwell's side were destined for greater things than the West of Scotland Second Division. Their quest to climb the divisions was helped by seven points out of nine in December, and eleven points from the next fifteen available across January and February. Although the shortest month was marked by three cup quarter finals, it was perhaps the win over Irvine Vics on the first day of February that proved the most significant. Irvine have been applying pressure to the Undertakers throughout the campaign, and memories of last season's capitulation in the Third Division were still fresh in the mind. The 2-1 victory at Parklea gave Maxwell's men an eight point cushion heading into the spring. This would surely prove to be enough to bring home the title! Although the autumn had started disastrously for Greenock Juniors, their form throughout October and November put them clear at the top of the Third Division. The threadbare squad at Rab Kilpatrick's disposal had been performing minor miracles, and there were no signs of them abating throughout December and January. Greenock had earned a reputation for throwing caution to the wind in their tactical style, and with results like 2-7, 5-5, 4-6, and 4-2, no one could really argue with it. The great entertainers of Division Three were clearly shooting for the stars, but February brought them crashing back down to earth. Despite a good start to the New Year, injuries and fatigue had started to set in by the second month of 2025 resulting in two league draws and a disastrous home defeat at the hands of Port Glasgow in the Strathclyde Demolition Cup. The game had been billed as one of the potential games of the season, with both sides enjoying tremendous league campaigns and scoring goals for fun. But by the time the fixture rolled around, Greenock were dead on their feet. Their bitter foes were unforgiving in their approach to the match and set out to humiliate Rab Kilpatrick's men. It was a third straight Clydeside derby win for Port Glasgow, the second in Greenock, and no one was left in any doubt as to who the top dogs were in this neck of the woods. While the mood in the Greenock camp was somewhat disturbed by the manner of their defeat against Port Glasgow, one look at the league table was enough to quickly snap them out of the gloom. Not only were Kilpatrick's side well clear of fourth place, ensuring them a promotion spot, but they enjoyed an eleven point advantage and a vastly superior goal difference in the title race. There would be no cups to contest in the spring, but winning the Third Division title, something Port Glasgow failed to do the previous season, would surely suffice for a successful 24/25 campaign at the Ravenscraig Stadium.

Autumn 2024 Greenock's impressive start to the 24/25 season came to a screeching halt in September. The Nock lost four out of five fixtures across the month, a run that included two cup eliminations. It appeared as though Rab Kilpatrick's threadbare squad was finally getting found out. That is until October arrived. The Halloween season proved to be much less spooky for the Reds, as they recovered from September's trauma to win five from six. Despite conceding in every game across the month, there were signs that the defence was tightening up somewhat, and that carried over into November where Greenock managed to claim two clean sheets in four outings. The seven points picked up in November sent Rab Kilpatrick's men to the top of the Third Division heading into the winter months. It was a remarkable accomplishment for a side permanently on the verge of a personnel crisis. John Maxwell called for his players to not get carried away after their impressive start to the new season, but Port Glasgow's form across the Autumn made it difficult to keep everyone's feet firmly fixed to the ground. A perfect league record that stretched into mid-November had the Undertakers soaring at the top of the Second Division. There was also progress in every cup competition. Among the raft of victories were wins away at Irvine Vics and Threave Rovers, last season's foes and the closest challengers to Port Glasgow in the league. With fourteen wins from fifteen in the league, and a goal difference of +35, it was difficult to look past John Maxwell's men for the title, even at this early stage. In an exciting piece of news from the Strathclyde Demolition Cup, there would be a battle of the Clydeside this season after all. With both teams in terrific form and scoring lots of goals, the game at the Ravenscraig Stadium in Greenock should prove to be a fascinating encounter.