David Štěpánek

Right Back - Retired
20 Nov 2033
Sunday
Process

Marked for David Štěpánek

303 Edition

The Jablonec Sentinel

17 May 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Manuel Martic

32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jablonec lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

Words at Jablonec training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Martin Cedidla is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Squad

Tempers go at Jablonec

Ales Vydra was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

In brief

Back issues
302 Edition

The Jablonec Sentinel

10 May 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Manuel Martic

39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jablonec lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

A fracture rules David Štěpánek out for 17 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Jablonec will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Tempers go at Jablonec

Sebastian Nebyla was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

In brief

301 Edition

The Jablonec Sentinel

3 May 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Manuel Martic

46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jablonec lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

A fracture rules David Štěpánek out for 24 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Jablonec will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Alexis Alégué stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexis Alégué and Jablonec agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

In brief

  • Squad Words at Jablonec training over how hard people work
  • Boardroom $1.5M on the table at Jablonec
  • Market The Filip Zorvan talk will not go away
300 Edition

The Jablonec Sentinel

26 Apr 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Manuel Martic

53 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jablonec lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

A fracture rules David Štěpánek out for 31 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Jablonec will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Lukáš Pešl says Jablonec went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

In brief

299 Edition

The Jablonec Sentinel

19 Apr 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Manuel Martic

60 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jablonec lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

A fracture rules David Štěpánek out for 38 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Jablonec will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

David Štěpánek keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Jablonec may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

In brief

298 Edition

The Jablonec Sentinel

12 Apr 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Manuel Martic

67 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jablonec lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

A fracture rules David Štěpánek out for 45 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Jablonec will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Filip Zorvan says Jablonec went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

In brief

297 Edition

The Jablonec Sentinel

5 Apr 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Manuel Martic

74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jablonec lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

A fracture rules David Štěpánek out for 52 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Jablonec will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Squad

Denis Donát: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Jablonec have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

In brief

  • Squad Words at Jablonec training over how hard people work
  • Market The Filip Zorvan talk will not go away
296 Edition

The Jablonec Sentinel

29 Mar 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

A knee injury of the worst kind for Manuel Martic

81 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jablonec lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.

Squad

A fracture rules David Štěpánek out for 59 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Jablonec will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Match

Jablonec are in among the leaders

Position 3 and 56 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.

In brief

290 Edition

The Jablonec Sentinel

16 Feb 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Manuel Martic damages knee ligaments — 123 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 123 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Squad

Sebastian Nebyla in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jablonec this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Jablonec training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ebrima Singhateh is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

In brief

287 Edition

The Jablonec Sentinel

26 Jan 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Manuel Martic damages knee ligaments — 144 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 144 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Squad

David Štěpánek keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Jablonec may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Market

Only the photograph left for Oğuz Yıldırım

Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Oğuz Yıldırım will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Jablonec the goodbyes have quietly begun.

Squad

Tempers go at Jablonec

Sebastian Nebyla was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Ebrima Singhateh falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Ebrima Singhateh at his very best

Marked 8.26. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Jablonec.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Sebastian Nebyla

Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

Jablonec and Bohemians 1905 take a point apiece

It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.

Market

The Sebastian Nebyla story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sebastian Nebyla signs something — a contract at Jablonec or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief

285 Edition

The Jablonec Sentinel

12 Jan 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

Manuel Martic damages knee ligaments — 158 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 158 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Squad

A one-man rearguard from Jakub Markovič

There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.

Squad

Martin Cedidla falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Match

Sparta Prague take the points off Jablonec

Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Filip Zorvan

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

Boardroom

93% of the income goes out in wages at Jablonec

Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.

In brief