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Beardsley - 'Pav Was A Diamond'
Written by Newcastle Utd
Peter Beardsley has described his former Newcastle United team-mate Pavel Srnicek as a "special man and a special goalkeeper"
By Dan King - Newcastle United Digital Editor
Peter Beardsley has described his former Newcastle United team-mate Pavel SrnÃÄek as "a special man and a special goalkeeper."
SrnÃÄek died on Tuesday, having suffered a cardiac arrest in his native Czech Republic last week. He was just 47 years old.
The goalkeeper made 190 appearances for the Magpies over two spells at St. James' Park, and was famously part of the 'Entertainers' side of the mid-1990s.
"He was an absolute diamond of a fella," Beardsley told nufc.co.uk. "I saw him less than two weeks ago and he looked a million dollars.
"I know he was still coaching at Sparta Prague but he looked like he could still be playing. It was such a shock.
"A lot of people have said a lot of nice things about him being one of the good guys, but that is the reality.
"He is one of the best that I ever worked with in terms of a friend and a person. Alan Shearer said yesterday that he'd lost a friend; we all have.
"It's a sad loss to everybody that supported Newcastle. As the t-shirt said, 'Pavel is a Geordie' - and he very much was."
SrnÃÄek - who had served in the Czech army - arrived on Tyneside from Banik Ostrava in 1991 and helped Newcastle to win the old Division One title in 1992/93, becoming a fans' favourite in the process.
"His accent was brilliant," Beardsley smiled. "Talking Geordie with his accent was just special.
"He was just so positive in his whole approach to life. He was a special man and a special goalkeeper.
"It was very rare that there was ever a problem among the players but if ever there was, he was always the peacemaker, the one saying 'come on lads, there's not a problem'.
"We'd do a shooting practise at the end of training and he'd just be doing flicks and tricks, saving shots and laughing 'is that the best you've got?'.
"He was so athletic. I used to watch him doing his warm-ups and he'd do a thing where he was up and down ten times in what seemed like ten seconds; he'd bounce up, down, up... it was incredible.
"I played with Peter Shilton, Neville Southall, Bruce Grobbelaar - some of the very best. But in terms of fitness and sharpness, Pav was probably the best I've ever played with in that sense."
After winning promotion to the Premier League, Kevin Keegan's free-flowing Newcastle became arguably the most exciting team in the country.
In 1995/96, they almost won the title, but while the attacking players grabbed many of the headlines, SrnÃÄek's ability to produce match-winning saves stood out - along with his fancy footwork and the often garish keeper kits of that era.
"He was a massive part of that team," Beardsley said.
"The thing about goalkeepers is they have to make saves at certain times. When you're under the cosh, you know you have to make them but when you're attacking most of the time, as we were in those days, he had to be very alert, very single-minded.
"(David) Ginola, (Faustino) Asprilla, Al (Shearer), Sir Les (Ferdinand), Rob Lee - it must have been a pleasure to watch.
"But when you're watching that, can you keep your concentration?
"At half time, he used to come in and say 'I'm loving watching you today, lads.'
"But the amount of saves he made where you were standing in a wall, the ball went over your head and you were thinking 'that's in' - and then he'd come from nowhere.
"He'd just leap across, right-handed, around the post. He did it so many times. I can picture him doing it now.
"It would look as though it was beyond him. You were almost getting ready to walk back to the half-way line to kick off. He just had that unbelievable knack of making special saves.
"My thoughts are with his family. He really will be missed."