Sparta have confirmed former first team coach Zdeněk Ščasný has been appointed the club’s sports director. Sčasný returns back to Sparta to a different position after stepping down as the head coach fifteen months ago.
The coach who had led Sparta to the Europa League quarterfinals in the 2015-2016 season, will be closely cooperating with Tomáš Rosický, who joins him in the club’s sports department, and also the current head coach, Andrea Stramaccioni.
“I’m here to pass my experience to the coach, because I know how tough it is to be a coach abroad. My main role will be with the first team, to discuss all the matters with the coach – from tactics to analyses,” Ščasný said at a press conference after the first team had resumed their winter training on Thursday.
“Me and the coach have met a couple of times already, having discussed pretty much everything. I’m here only to consult. I will always respect his decision. It’s not about Ščasný and Stramaccioni, but about respecting the club philosophy. It’s necessary to learn from our mistakes and make Sparta successful again,” Ščasný stated on his future cooperation with the first team head coach.
Ščasný’s current main task is to improve the squad for the second part of the season, and to handle the wide roster of Sparta’s first team.
“Mandjeck, Biabiany and Janko will all leave in the first phase. They do not leave as the ones responsible for the bad autumn – the whole team was responsible, including the coaching staff. They leave because we have evaluated their contribution to the team and also their contracts. After our deep analysis we have decided they do not fully fit our plans for the future,” Ščasný explained.
Apart from players leaving, the sports director is also working on bringing improvement to the team, while the main task is obvious.
“The squad has its weaknesses, we need to add quality to the centre midfield, especially after Rosický’s retirement,” Ščasný said.
“New signings for centre midfield should fit the team immediately, we can’t wait for the players to get used to everything. They should be creative, agile and effective. The negotiations with the Chinese side about Bořek Dočkal would be really complicated and I can confirm we’re negotiating with other players at the moment” he added.
There has been a lot of media attention to Nicolae Stanciu’s potential signing and as Zdeněk Ščasný confirmed, the Romanian star player is the club’s main target this winter.
“I would be really glad if Stanciu became the first signing. I know him very well. When this opportunity emerged, I accepted immediately. He has a great technique, he can play on two positions. I saw him playing in a number of matches and he’s exactly the type of player we need,” Ščasný said.
