Smooth after promotion to the Premier League: I believe we can be competitive

Czech goalkeeper Václav Hladký is experiencing the greatest success of his career. A year after he was promoted to the second English league with Ipswich, he is rejoicing again, this time at securing participation in the famous Premier League. And he has the lion’s share of it, he didn’t miss a minute on the field in the league matches. How does he balance a highly successful season? How are the celebrations going? And how does he deal with the doubts of some experts, whether he will even capture the top English competition? He talked about all this in a new episode of the Livesport Daily podcast.

To the initial question, whether four years ago, when he came to the fourth English league, he believed that he would one day fight for promotion to the Premier League, Hladký answers unequivocally: “When I signed the contract in Salford, my manager and I believed that such a goal was ahead of us, although of course it was very far away. But you should always set yourself the highest goals, that’s what I try to do. So the truth is that we that’s how we set it up, the others just shook their heads and thought it was impossible,” he smiles as he recalls his early days in England.

Now he knows for sure that he did well that time, because with Ipswich he won participation in the Premier League just one year after promotion to the Championship: “I’ve played 46 games, but I feel very good physically. You get into such a robotic mode, the games follow one another in quick succession, you don’t even have time to think about it. Only now, after the end of the season, I had to think and realize that it’s really over, that there’s no practice or match tomorrow.”

In the current season, all three newcomers will most likely be relegated from the Premier League. Do Ipswich have what it takes to avoid a similar fate next season? “It’s a logical question when you see the current season. But I have great faith in how the coach will prepare us and how we will work. I believe that we will be able to be competitive. We have set it up so well for the last two years that just add some kindling to the fire and we should get even better.” adds Hladký.

On Thursday’s episode of Livesport Daily we also talked:

– about how he kept his motivation and self-confidence in the seasons when he played the role of number two

– about the talented coach Kieran McKenna, who learned from Mourinho

– about why he regrets the attitude of some Czech journalists

You can also find all episodes of Livesport Daily on popular podcast platforms – Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts.