Czechoslovakia was a bit similar to Portugal this season – somewhat faded, changing generations without much success, and missing the World Cup. The domestic championship did not attract much attention, but it was unusual and curious one. First, there were transfers different from the traditional pattern. Second, some of the strong clubs a few years back were clearly unable to rebuild. Third was the relegation-promotion at the end of the season – no such thing happened before and the reasons are lost with the time passed. Football dominance already moved from Slovakia to the Czech half of the country, but without clearly dominant clubs. Slovan (Bratislava) and Spartak (Trnava) steadily dropped down and were no longer a factor – by now both were mid-table clubs, finishing 8th and 9th. Not only the Slovak clubs were losing ground, but they started losing key players – in the first half of the 1970s big names were unlikely to change a Slovak for a Czech club, but not anymore, thus, the Slovak clubs were further losing competitive edge.
Top left : Milan Nemec, Jan Haraslin, Anton Ondrus, Karol Kristof, Jozef Mrva
Middle left : Jozef Capkovic, Jozef Kovac, Tibor Matula, Alexander Vencel,
Jan Capkovic, Ivan Pekarik
Bottom left : Miroslav Barto, Marian Masny, Koloman Gogh, Jan Pivarnik, Juraj
Novotny
Slowly fading away. Slovan still had 7-8 strong players, some heroes from the 1976 European championship, but behind them – nothing. The stars were aging without classy replacements.
The second club from Bratislava suffered more – Inter finished at the bottom of the table, 15th. Relegation zone… But curiously they were not relegated. This year only one club went down. Why? May be because both clubs in the relegation zone were Slovak and the Federation did not want to create disbalance between the two parts of the country. But it was not exactly something new both bottom clubs to be either Czech or Slovak. Inter was not relegated and only the winner of the Slovak Second Division moved up. Last in the table and hopelessly so was ZVL Zilina, no stranger to such a fate. They finished with 16 points – Inter ended above them with 22. Sparta (Pargue) took the ‘safe’ 14th place with 25 points – so far, the esteemed club was more than shaky, concerned largely with survival. The memory of sinking to second division was not only fresh, but fearful: Sparta was very weak.
Banik (Ostrava) also finished low – 10th. Looked like the good years ended for them too… but no. It was more of temporary underperformance in a league without really dominant clubs. Often strong clubs were unable to keep top place for long. Banik was not exactly in similar to Slovan, Spartak, and Inter situation.
Those were the clubs which were going downhill. Others were climbing up: the sole promotion was enjoyed by ZTS Kosice.
Hardly a surprise – Kosice returned to top flight, where they usually played anyway. Looked like recovery , yet, the most interesting thing about them was not the squad, but the name: they changed it. The old VSS Kosice was now ZTS Kosice, with corresponding new logo. Apparently, the main sponsor of the club changed – that is, the club moved – or was moved – from belonging to one industrial complex to another.
Promotion was good sign, but still in the realm of second division football. In the top league the most significant improvement belonged to Bohemians (Prague). The old club did not finish all that high – they ended 6th – but the signs were hard to ignored: they were gathering exciting squad under the guidance of former Czechoslovakian star coaching them now, Pospichal.
Bohemians ranked low in Prague – Dukla, Slavia, and Sparta always had more means or getting and keeping better players. At best, Bohemians was able to have an occasional star, but hardly a solid team. Panenka was the big name for quite some time, but the rest were pretty much players good for mid-table position. But Bohemians acquired two players of high status – something extremely unusual. Both were national team players for years – Karol Dobias and Premysl Bicovsky. Both were getting a bit old, but still running strong. One more player was also national team material – the goalkeeper Zdenek Hruska. Suddenly Bohemians had a very strong core and the added class showed – the club was climbing up and promising to play even larger role in the near future. Very optimistic development, not missed by anybody – Hruska made his debut for the national team in December 1977. Antonin Panenka, Dobias, and Bicovsky were old hands in the national team, the first two European Champions as well. Bohemians was quickly becoming a major force.
Bohemians was going up, but so far the best clubs were others – the former Bicovsky’s club, Sklo Union Teplice, bested Bohemians by a point, finishing 5th. Forth was Slavia (Prague). Good teams, yet, not good enough for really attacking the very top – Slavia finished 5 points behind the bronze medalists. Which were Lokomotiva (Kosice), enjoying their best years.
May be not outstanding, but solid, experienced, and enthusiastic team. The best modest Lokomotiva ever had. They suddenly were the best Slovak club, the only one able to compete with the Czechs – almost unbelievable, for they generally ranked low among the Slovak clubs. Even in their home town they were only the second club… but look at them now. Lokomotiva finished with 39 points.
Two points more had Dukla (Prague), the champions of the previous season. Silver medals were hardly a disappointment, yet… the new might of the best known abroad Czechoslovakian club was a bit suspect.
Of course, the ability of the Army club to recruit whoever they wanted was not liked in Czechoslovakia and the club was disliked, but in terms of policy and real strength it was different matter. Dukla, more or less, assembled a team of the next generation – younger players rapidly becoming the core of the national team. Stambacher, Macela, Netolicka, Fiala. But it was not everything – first, the squad was well balanced, having experienced players who were no strangers to the national team either – Gajdusek and Samek on the photo above. The list was longer, though: Jarolim and Vizek were also in the team and one truly big star too – Zdenek Nehoda. It was a squad with more than potential – they were the strongest squad at the time, diverse, quite young, having more talented players than any other team. Dukla, on paper, should have been dominant, leaving any other club far behind. So, ending 2nd was a bit strange.