Jan Koller

Poor Martin Frýdek. As I flicked my foot in anger, my cleat slipped. My 15, big-as-a-ship shoe, which they had to custom make specifically for me, struck Frýdek right in the face.

At that moment, I didn't care. I was pissed like never before in my life. I got up, punched the cabin door, and it swung open.

"Kiss my ass, everybody!" I shouted. “I won't be here for another minute!” 

Everyone was staring at me. The whole team and coach Petržela. Moments before, they had been nagging me about a huge chance that I missed just before the end of the half against Opava. Suddenly, there was complete silence.

Nobody expected this. I've never been like that. My nature is one of non-conflict. Until then, I endured everything quietly and humbly. All of the swearing and shots had started to escalate in the past six months. Their quantity and intensity drove me to this explosion.

I was a boy from a village who found himself in a world that had seemed so foreign to him as a teenager. Through coincidence, the intercession of the right people, my work ethic and some football skills, I made it to the largest Czech club in the middle of its most dominant era, without any previous youth career. At first, everyone in Sparta was excited about me because I helped them as an occasional unexpected revelation on the field. As soon as I became a solid part of the team and threatened the positions of the existing regulars, they grew defensive.

My self-confidence was never too great, certainly not in the beginning, and it hit me way harder than I would have liked. Despite working harder and harder, I was getting worse and worse on the field. I burned my chances, my own fans whistled at me and what seemed a fairy tale became a source of annoyance and destruction. It was as if the big football environment was trying to show me that it wouldn't be as easy as I thought; that I didn't really belong in it.

Since my outburst after the match against Opava, I had peace of mind, and just over half an hour of game-time during matches. I was 23, and as soon as my league career began, it was threatening to end.