By John Dobbo [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia CommonsThis blog has been in the making for a couple of months now since it became obvious that Thibaut Courtois was Jose Mourinho’s 1st choice goal keeper for Chelsea FC.
Many opinions have, and will continue to be aired as to the wisdom of that choice so I will not enter into that debate here, but I will attempt to do justice to the man that is Petr Čech in this blog.
Not an easy task I must admit, just the thought of attempting this has caused me to sprout even more grey hairs than previously adorned my thinning barnet!
Throughout world football there are only a few players who command immediate respect just at the mention of their names, Pele, Maradonna, Michel Platini are just a few and I include Chelsea FC’s very own Petr Čech in that list.
The difference between Petr and the other greats I’ve just mentioned is that if you were to Google those names alongside the word scandal, you wouldn’t return any results against Big Pete’s name., go on I dare you, try and prove me wrong!
So just who is Petr Čech?
Next: Petr Čech - The Early Days.
Born 20th May 1982 in the City of Plzeň in what was then known as Czechoslovakia before the fall of communism under the Velvet Revolution of 1989. Plzeň used to be known throughout the world as being the birthplace of Pilsner Beer, nowadays it’s known as being Big Pete’s birthplace!
Petr was one of triplets, his triplet brother Michal Čech died at the age of 2, leaving his triplet sister Šárka Čechová and his other sister Markéta Čechová as his surviving siblings. The fact that he is one of a triplet birth affects his appearance when playing today, but more of that later.
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As with so many footballers Petr didn’t start out in his now recognised position, indeed he started out as a midfielder/winger as a 7 year old for Škoda Plzeň, now known as FC Viktoria Plzeň. Whilst there he broke his leg aged 10 and that helped convince him to be a goal keeper because there was less pain involved playing for 90 minutes as a goal keeper! He progressed via FK Chmel Blšany and Sparta Prague where he broke the Czech record for not conceding a goal, finally conceding after 903 consecutive minutes. At this point in his career Arsenal tried to sign him but the deal didn’t happen because of difficulties in obtaining a work permit (thank you o God of Work Permits!).
From there he eventually signed for Stade Rennais in France. After a successful trial in 2003 Claudio Ranieri attempted to sign Petr as an understudy to Carlo Cudicini, and finally in June 2014 Petr Čech joined Chelsea FC in a £7million deal.
Next: Petr Čech – The Man.
Petr married Martina Čechová (nee Dolejšováand) and has 2 children Adéla Čechová (born 23rd Jan 2008) and Damián Čech (born 16th June 2009).
Damián stole every Chelsea FC fan’s hearts when he saved that “shot” from Leo Torres in 2013 in the on pitch celebrations in front of The Shed, truly a chip off the old block!
Petr is a multi linguist speaking 4 languages including his newest conquest Spanish and studies history and psychology, and this yearning for knowledge comes across in all his interviews. He comes across as a highly intelligent, down to earth man who engages brain before mouth, a rare talent these days in the modern footballer!
This is not that surprising when you consider his early childhood days were spent under communist rule in Czechoslovakia. In an interview with the Daily Telegraph in December 2008 he describes how it was as a communist child “At schools there were programmes for football, ice hockey, handball, volleyball and basketball. You could spend your time with any sort of sport. I really enjoyed it. Being a child in that system was not that bad because you had so many opportunities to enjoy yourself after you finished your school day. Nowadays it is different.”
“With the system you had to attend the classes, do the sports. I think sometimes with kids they might not want to do a sport but when they try it they really like it. A lot of the time it worked like that. Nowadays you have no duty to attend a sports class, it’s up to you. The problem is that kids now are spending all their time on the PlayStation, on the internet. I think this is what has changed the most.”
Petr himself says that there are a few things that have influenced him as a person as well as his early formative years, his marriage to Martina and the birth of his children are obvious ones, but also the life threatening injury he received on October 14th 2006 are all listed as defining moments.
Petr is an accomplished drummer who has had a jam session with Chelsea FC fan and Queen drummer Roger Taylor in the past, and seems to have been spending some of his spare time recently brushing up on his skills and posting them on YouTube. Here he is covering his favourite band, The Foo Fighters and “Walk”.
Big Pete is also very active on social media, especially Twitter and has even been known to partake in a little banter from time to time in true Chelsea FC family style!
Next: Petr Čech – October 14th 2006.
That date will always remain in the minds of Chelsea FC fans throughout the world, not because of a famous victory, but because it was the date that Petr Čech could have been killed doing something he loved, playing a game of football.
A routine slide out to collect the ball on the ground from Petr, a knee lowered into the head by Reading’s Stephen Hunt (as a “reminder” from someone trying to impress his manager as Hunt himself said in an interview afterwards), and Petr suffered a depressed skull fracture, which if it hadn’t been for an emergency operation in the early hours of the next day could have killed him. The fact that he was one of triplets is now considered by experts to be the reason why Petr’s skull is thinner than average and why he still wears his famous skull cap even to this day nearly 9 years later.
Petr himself doesn’t remember the incident or anything between getting changed pre game in the dressing room to when the whole team came to visit him in hospital 3 or 4 days later. He has however got every card and get well letter sent to him after the incident in a large cardboard box in his house, and refers to them as a source of help in a very difficult time in his life.
He does get annoyed when people ask him if he wears the skull cap because he is wary or cautious when challenging for the ball as a result of the incident, as reported by The Daily Mail in an interview given in August 2009: “It irritates me that people say, “He wears it because he’s afraid,” or psychologically it makes me feel more secure. They have no idea what my surgeon said. They have no knowledge of brain injuries. If I needed help psychologically I’d wear an American football helmet. When you play in goal you expect to get kicked. I had 50 stitches in my mouth. I don’t cover my face, do I? When the ball is there to be won I don’t consider what might happen.”
Incidentally the very fact that Petr does wear his skull cap every time now actually helped another Chelsea FC player, Kurt Zouma on 16th December 2014. Both Petr and Kurt went up to clear a cross from the Chelsea FC penalty area and suffered a sickening clash of heads. Kurt Zouma had to go off suffering with potential concussion and Petr believes that if he hadn’t been wearing his head guard it could have been a lot worse for both of them. Referring to the incident Petr said in an interview: “But then I saw him (Kurt) lying on the floor. I was a bit concerned because we collided with a heavy clash. I think it was lucky he hit my helmet because the impact would have been much bigger. I think the helmet saved him, me as well. Because he hit most of the helmet and took away a little bit of the impact.”
Next: Petr Čech – The Chelsea years.
Big Pete has been amongst the first names on every manager’s team sheet when available during his first 10 years at Chelsea FC. Only with the arrival of another 22 year old in Thibaut Courtois has a Chelsea manager had to think about whom to stick between the posts.
Petr Čech was signed as a 22 year old to be the understudy to Carlo Cudicini by Claudio Ranieri, but during the pre season Carlo suffered a shoulder injury and up stepped Petr into the #1 position for the 2004/05 season.
And what a first season!
As part of the title winning defense he only conceded 15 goals, kept 24 clean sheets and picked up the Barclay’s Golden Glove award for the season. He also set a record for the longest run without conceding a goal in the Premier League, 1024 minutes. Petr has said that the only time he thought about the personal record was when he was 3 minutes away from breaking the previous record and Paul Dickov stepped up to take a penalty, Petr saved it and the record was his!
Over the following years Petr kept up his remarkably consistent record leading to him eventually breaking Peter Bonetti’s Chelsea FC clean sheet record with his 209th away to Hull City on 11th January 2014.
Petr Čech’s individual awards during his time with Chelsea FC are numerous and include:
Premier League Golden Glove: 2004/05, 2009/10, 2013/14
Chelsea FC Player Of The Year: 2011
EUFA’s Most Valuable Goal Keeper: 2005, 2007, 2008
Czech Footballer Of The Year: 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013
Golden Ball Trophy for the Best Czech Footballer: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013.
Awards and trophies always serve as visual reminders when players look back on their careers but comments from their own peers also serve as a reminder of a player’s true greatness and Petr has received many from within the game and particularly from within the “Goal Keepers Union”
Gianluigi Buffon wrote for the Chelsea FC match day programme after he broke Peter Bonetti’s record: “Dear Petr, A goalkeeper can prove his talent even by just one save, but in order to be a true champion he needs commitment, perseverance, passion and self-sacrifice. In the end, this is the real meaning of your record: being a good player isn’t enough to achieve it, it’s also necessary to be a great man. And this must make you especially proud. Congratulations, champion!”
Peter Bonetti himself wrote: “Petr has been brilliant to do what he’s done – he’s one of the best goalkeepers I’ve seen and his record speaks for itself. I admire him greatly, he’s been incredible and still has a long time to go. He is relatively young and could still go on to break more records.”
Mark Shwarzer got in on the act too with: “To have played the amount of games he has, and to have kept so many clean sheets, is a remarkable accomplishment and it’s testament to his dedication and his professionalism. Hopefully, there will be more success in the future; in my books, he’s still a spring chicken! You can only admire and take your hat off to such dedication.”
Christophe Lollichon, Petr’s long time coach and goalkeeping coach at Chelsea FC was quoted as saying after breaking the record: “We are very proud of this record and Petr is very happy. His level is regular and that is one of the most important qualities we need for a goalkeeper – the consistency. A keeper can be a guy who makes fantastic saves – but Petr’s focus is also tactical, technical, and physical and, because he is a perfectionist, he analyses everything to be performing for the team, not just for himself.”
Frank Lampard referred to Petr’s contribution to Chelsea FC’s European Champions League triumph when he said: “I think Pete’s been one of the best goalkeepers for many, many years. He’s unbelievable, particularly in the year we won the Champions League, looking back on the final and the games towards the final and how much he saved us. I don’t think he got enough recognition for it on a world scale. People talk about other goalies in Spain and Italy, but nobody was in Pete’s class that year.”
I will leave the last word from Petr’s peers with Chelsea FC’s other current legend, our Captain John Terry, when in 2014 after the record was broken he said: “This is Big Pete’s 10th season at Chelsea and he has been world class from the moment he arrived here in 2004. As well as being his 209th clean sheet in all competitions, he can now go on to break David James’ Premier League record.”
John Terry raised the question of can Petr Čech beat David James’ Premier League record of 170 clean sheets. Presently Petr has 166 with only 2 games of the season remaining, so unless Big Pete decides to stay with Chelsea FC, or go to another Premier League club that is one record that unfortunately cannot be added to his personal tally.
Next: Petr Čech – The Summary.
Original artwork courtesy of @madhousebridge
https://instagram.com/madhouseatthebridge/
I hope I’m writing this tribute a year early, and that Big Pete will stay with Chelsea FC for at least another year.
Regrettably I don’t think I am, and that Petr will depart to another team leaving Thibaut Courtois to inherit his crown as King Of The Keepers at Stamford Bridge.
Petr on current form doesn’t deserve to be sat on the reserves bench week in week out, he still has at least 1 or 2 more years left in him at the very top level and it wouldn’t be fair on him as a person or as a loyal servant of Chelsea FC to end his career that way. Obviously I would hate to see him between the sticks for an opponent but after all he has done for us I will respect his choice and wish him well, except against Chelsea FC!
Big Pete, I salute you Sir and I thank God for allowing me the privilege of watching you play for my beloved Chelsea FC, and I know that in the decades to come fans of all clubs will look back and say…..
“That Čech chap was alright wasn’t he”
Next: Meet The Men Who Have Played For And Managed The Blues