“I confirm that on April 3, i.e. the very first day when we took over the club, myself and general manager Jan Nezmar announced to coach Kozlov that we want to take a different path from the next season,” wrote Kania in a comprehensive post on the X social network.
“We considered this decision for months, because coach Kozel is undoubtedly an excellent coach, but in the end, for many reasons, we came to the conclusion that if we are building a de facto completely new club that will function very differently from how it has functioned until now, there is a big risk, that the head coach (whoever he may be), who was used to operating completely differently for three years, might not be able to accept such a change, and it could fundamentally complicate the transformation of the club.”
Until Sunday, there was only speculation about Kozlov’s end in Liberec, albeit quite loudly. However, neither the club nor the coach confirmed this information. This only happened after Liberec lost 0:2 in Teplice in the first match of the league extension, when Kozel spoke at the end of the press conference.
“I’ve known about my end for a long time, but we agreed with the management not to publish it, so I haven’t confirmed it yet. However, the information has been leaking for some time now and everyone is writing about it as a fait accompli. That’s why I wanted to set the record straight,” explained the current coach of Liberec about his decision to finally make the matter public. He also added that he does not feel comfortable working in this situation.
It follows from the subsequent reaction of the new majority owner of the Liberec club that he wanted to announce Kozl’s end from the team right from the start, but the coach himself was against it.
“The coach preferred that we would not comment on the whole thing, regardless of speculation, until the end of the season. In retrospect, I clearly admit that it was my mistake not to insist on our preferred option and to back down,” Kania said.
“We should have all realized at that moment that there is huge media interest in our club and that it is impossible to hide such a fundamental fact for more than a few days. It is completely logical, because the club has to work on securing a new implementation team and the outgoing coaches have to work on having an engagement from the next season.”
Last week, according to Kania, Kozel told the club’s management that at the press conference after Teplice he would no longer lie and tell the truth. “It would certainly make sense to maintain the agreed procedure and be consistent in not commenting on the matter, however, it was the coach’s choice, which we cannot prevent him from,” wrote the new owner of Slovan Liberec.
“So it is logical that I also have to put the situation into perspective from our point of view. It’s unfortunate, but there is a clear lesson that we all know from life – it’s always easier to tell the truth. And there is also a lesson about the football environment – everything always sucks no matter what.”
One way or another, Sunday’s rematch with Teplice in the semifinals of the European group may be the last game for Kozlo on the Liberec bench. This, of course, if the team fails to turn around the unfavorable score of 0:2. Kozlov’s place should be replaced by Radoslav Kováč from Pardubice, which has also been speculated about for a long time.
