He dreamed of scoring goals for the national team. But knee problems were against it. And so he tried as a coach. This decision changed Jindřich Trpišovský’s life.
Success is often determined by small things. Or coincidences. In the case of Trpišovský, it was several things together. He sacrificed almost everything for training. He even had to earn money behind the bar, to have a living. But then it broke. His work was noticed by Jan Nezmar, the official of Liberec at the time, and brought him to Slovan. But more on that later.
Trpišovský as a waiter
Trpišovský started from the top. He was not a league footballer who was closer to the craft. He led pupils at Sparta and worked his way up to the A team of Horní Měcholup, which played in the third league. At the same time he had to go to work. As a hotel school graduate, he made a living as a waiter, bartender or operating restaurants and gaming rooms. “I worked in a bar until maybe four in the morning so I could train the youth during the day,” he told iSport.
“Later I worked as a restaurant operator. I started at eight in the morning, at ten he had a training session at the A club in Xaverov, then he went to work until ten, but in the meantime he was still leading the youth training. And at four in the morning I had to go take over the sales,” he continued the conversation. “It was only thanks to my father that I was able to quit my job and get a professional license. If I didn’t have sensational people around me, I would never have reached the Champions League.” recalls Trpišovský.
They owed him fifteen salaries
Then he moved to Žižkov as a coach. But by that time the club’s glorious history was already long gone and Viktorka was in convulsions. Mainly financially. Management owed Trpišovské fifteen payments. And not only him. “The players came asking if we could lend them a few hundred to get them through the next few days. We didn’t have training areas, material security,” said Trpišovský about working in the second league.
And then it broke. Trpišovský was spotted by Nezmar, whose investigation into allegedly influencing the Slavia match was also reported on SportechŽiv. In the summer of 2016, he brought him to Liberec. The abilities of the then 40-year-old coach soon became apparent. Two advances to the Europa League say it all. In January 2018, he then headed to Slavia. The results were not long in coming. Three titles in a row, Champions League, Europa League quarter-finals. “It was a transition to another galaxy,” described.
193 league wins
In April, he achieved another huge success. He broke Pavel Vrba’s record for the number of league wins. After the last 5-0 triumph over Baník in the first round of the superstructure, he already has 193 on his account. “I find it unbelievable. Nine years ago, my dream was to train in the first league. I used to earn as a bartender. Suddenly I could do football instead of work. It’s a really big job now.” Trpišovský gushed to iDnes.
The man whose white cap shines on his head during matches would like to improve his record this Saturday. His Slavia will head to Letná. And if he wants to keep his hopes of the title, he must beat Sparta, on which he is losing four points. Will win number 194 come?
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