Radek Černý

Radek Černý

Personal information
Full name	Radek Černý
Height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team	Queens Park Rangers
Number	??
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 23 February 2008 (UTC)

Radek Černý (born February 18, 1974 in Prague, Czech Republic) is a Czech footballer who currently plays for Queens Park Rangers as a goalkeeper.

Slavia Prague

Radek Cerny turned professional in 1993 as a 19-year-old with Slavia Praha, his home team. His father was a goalkeeper, who started out as a youth at Slavia before playing in the Czech third and fourth divisions, while Cerny's older brother Petr was another goalkeeper playing for the club.

Cerny did not get a chance to play for Slavia in the early years of his career, having been loaned out to three different Czech clubs and not returning until 1997, when he finally made his debut. Petr Cerny was later signed as a deputy to his younger brother.

Cerny made more than 150 appearances for Slavia, many of them in European competition. He was twice a domestic cup winner and followed 11 caps for the Czech under-21s with three for the full international team.

Tottenham Hotspur

He joined Spurs on an 18-month loan loan in January 2005 which was extended until the end of 2008 to replace Kasey Keller who, finding himself unable to win back the Spurs number one jersey from Paul Robinson, had signed for Borussia Mönchengladbach. Spurs had also signed Marton Fulop, a young Hungarian goalkeeper, in the previous summer, but it was Cerny who was called to deputise for Robinson for the last three games of the 2004/05 season. He made his debut at White Hart Lane against Aston Villa. Spurs won 5-1 but were unable to win a UEFA Cup spot that season.

Cerny played in the Peace Cup pre-season tournament in South Korea, which Spurs won, but once Robinson returned, Cerny was back on the bench again. Cerny did not make an appearance in the 2005/06 season as Spurs finished fifth.

The 2006/07 season was more of the same for Cerny, as Robinson, now the established number one for club and country, was playing in all of Spurs' matches, despite them playing in four competitions. Fulop had left to join Sunderland and Robert Burch, a former youth team player, was being loaned out without starting for any of the clubs who employed him. Robinson was injured in March 2007 for the FA Cup quarter-final at Chelsea where Cerny made his first competitive appearance for nearly two years in a memorable match that ended 3-3. Robinson returned for the replay, which Spurs lost 2-1. Cerny was on the bench for the rest of the season as Spurs finished fifth again.

The 2007/08 season began badly for Spurs, with Martin Jol leaving in November 2007 and Robinson under pressure after making a number of goalkeeping errors. New manager Juande Ramos eventually lost patience with Robinson's loss of form and for the first time in his Tottenham Hotspur career, Cerny displaced Robinson, being preferred for the Carling Cup semi-final first-leg at Arsenal. However, Robinson again replaced Cerny after a Cerny goalkeeping error in the UEFA Cup against his former team threatened Tottenham's chances of winning in the round. He told Sky Sports News that next season he would be joining QPR of the championship because of the lack of first team action.

Trivia

His nickname amongst team-mates is Rodney, due to his love of Only Fools and Horses that developed after his move to England.

External links

• Radek Černý at Soccerbase