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Fullname: Jiří Jarošík
aka: Jiri Jarosik
Height: 6.04
Born: 27 Oct 1977
Birthplace: Ústí nad Labem, Czechoslovakia
Signed: 19 June 06
Left: 31 Jan 2008
Position: Midfielder
Internationals: Czech Republic
International Caps: 23
International Goals: 0

Summary

Jiri was born on October 27, 1977 in Ústí nad Labem, Czechoslovakia (Communist pre-Berlin Wall days).

He has been capped over 20 times for his country.

In Feb 08, Jarosik has left Celtic to join Russian club FC Samara on a two-year-deal, for a reputed €1m transfer fee! [BBC]

After two seasons back in Russia he joined Real Zaragoza on a free transfer in January 2010.

Biog

With a pedigree like that behind Jiri Jarosik you might think we got ourselves a good deal. It's said that Mourinho (the self-proclaimed special one) after managing Porto to win the UEFA Cup and then the European Cup, left them on the back that the club wouldn’t help him get Jarosik. He ended up bringing in the player in his successful stint at Chelsea (although Jarosik was no success there). Alex Ferguson even had a few good words to say as we bought the player (“bargain” was in there somewhere). He even scored on his debut (always a good start) v Kilmarnock.

So where did it go wrong? Or did it go wrong? That’s the puzzle when it comes to this enigmatic player, and no side is entirely right or wrong. When you look at his emaciated build, you’d hardly think he has the physique to be a professional footballer, but underlying it was a very talented player. He could hold the ball and play good passes, the kind of player that Gordon Strachan (our manager who purchased him) liked so well.

Poor performances saw him in and out the side but interspersed were some match winning performances, nicking late and last minute goals twice against Hearts to help us come from behind against the mini-Huns to win. He also (cringingly) won us a free kick by his over-dramatics which led to the classic Naka free-kick to beat Man U in the Champions League.

Everyone knew that he had the skill to achieve much for the club, but excuses and reasoning by both camps on his ability abounded:

- He’s played out of position! Not his fault then?
- He’s too light-weight!
- He can’t take to the Scottish game!
- He’s too skilful! (Not a reason I’ve ever understood)
- He’s just plain lazy!
- He’s only here for European games etc etc etc.

Whatever side you were on and whatever you said about him, the bottom line was that at the end of the first season he wasn’t even fit for the bench. Jarosik seemed to simply wish to play in one single position, else he would go in a huff or not be able to perform. He wasn't given too many opportunities to play in his preferred attacking central midfield position, but that doesn't say much about his ability if he was not willing to be more flexible and show his worth in different areas in the midfield.

After one long spell out of the first team (many a time not even on the bench!) he was finally brought out amazingly to play practically as a striker against AC Milan in the European Cup! A baffling move by the manager, but it paid off as we won the match.

Into a new season and Celtic were drawn against Spartak Moscow in a vital set of qualifiers for the Champions League group stages. Jarosik did an interview for a Russian paper giving a general background/overview to the squad. Some saw it as selling out his team mates, but the rest just thought he was just stating what everyone already knew. It was a bad move publicly by him and he lost the faith of most sections of the support and the most cynical saw it as a ploy to help him move on.

He ended up playing a few good games back in the first half of season 2007-08, but his heart was on leaving and he left unsurprisingly in Jan 08 for Russian side FC Samara. In a later newspaper story, he said he didn’t like the food in Glasgow and weather blah blah blah, and basically came over as a bit too precious. We're sure he could easily afford food and meals from the better eateries with his wages.

Analysing his time at the club is as much a puzzle as the man himself. There’s no right answers and explanations, but no doubt neither ourselves nor anyone else has got the best out of what Jarosik had the ability to achieve, and in that sense that is the biggest loss of them all. He never seemed to settle at any club. Maybe if he took some responsibility and admitted that the problem was partly himself then he might have achieved what he potentially could have (be it at Celtic or elsewhere). Admittedly he has a fine haul of medals, but he could hardly be said to have been a pivotal player in the teams that won them (exc possibly at Sparta Prague).

On the other hand at least he has left us all with a good laugh (see Jarosik picture).

Playing Career

Club	From _______________	To ____________	Fee ___________	League ________		Scottish/ FA Cup		League cup		Other ________
FC Samara	31/01/2008		£ 500,000	No appearance data available				________	________	______
Celtic	19/06/2006	31/01/2008	Signed	24 (9)	5	2 (0)	0	1 (0)	0	8 (3)	2
Birmingham	22/08/2005	08/05/2006	Loan	19 (5)	5	4 (1)	1	2 (1)	2	0 (0)	0
Chelsea	07/01/2005	19/06/2006	Signed	3 (11)	0	2 (1)	0	1 (2)	0	0 (0)	0
CSKA Moscow	01/08/2003	07/01/2005		52 (4)	12	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0	7 (0)	1
Slovan Liberec	01/08/1998		Loan	7 (14)	2	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0
Slovan Liberec	01/08/1997		Loan	6 (12)	0	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0
Sparta Prague	01/08/1996	01/07/2003	Signed	84 (17)	20	0 (0)	0	0 (0)	0	18 (0)	4
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals

Honours with Celtic

Scottish Premier League:

• 2006-07

Scottish Cup:

• 2007

KDS Honours
MOTM Winners 2007-08
20-Oct-07	Rangers 3 v 0 Celtic	SPL
28-Nov-07	Celtic 2 v 1 Shakhtar Donetsk	Champions League

Pictures

• Jiri Jarosik pics