Griga eager for winter relief

No certainties
This time, however, they cannot count on European football next season. After qualifying for the group stage in six of the past seven campaigns, Czech football's dominant force are currently in crisis - lying eleventh in the league, 18 points behind leaders FC Slovan Liberec. A disastrous autumn has cost the Czech champions one coach, two captains and possibly the league title.

Huge defecit
Stanislav Griga, the man charged with salvaging Sparta's season, admits that the championship may already be beyond his beleaguered team. "The deficit is so big that it doesn't look realistic," said the 44-year-old coach who took over from Jaroslav Hřebík in early October. "Winning the title isn't in our hands now. Our main concern must be to strengthen the squad and start playing well again."

Poborský absent
Griga's task is to reinvigorate a team low on confidence and missing its biggest star. After criticising Hřebík's training methods and resigning the captaincy, Karel Poborský was loaned to second division SK Dynamo České Budějovice in September. When poor form persisted, Hřebík stepped down.

Calming influence
Griga seemed the ideal man to bring calm back to the Letná. As a player, he had spent eight happy years at Sparta, and represented Feyenoord and SK Rapid Wien before coaching a number of Slovakian clubs and Slovan. "My main aim after taking over at Sparta was to improve the atmosphere and restore players' confidence," he recalled. "Unfortunately, they seemed to be in worse shape than I'd thought. To be honest, we all can't wait for the winter break."

'Endless nightmare'
As well as low morale, Sparta have suffered from bad luck. Tomáš Sivok, appointed captain in Poborský's absence, tore knee ligaments in Matchday 2's 1-0 loss to Thun - an injury expected to keep the Czech international out of action for at least six months. Then, at the end of October, Karol Kisel broke his collarbone. "It was just another chapter in the endless nightmare we've been going through this autumn," Griga said.

Winter worry
It is also uncertain whether Poborský will return to Sparta when his loan spell ends on 31 December. "It's not a question for me, but for the club board and for Karel himself," said Griga. "Karel is certainly a great player and he'd bring experience back to the squad, but it's too early to say whether he'll come back."

Looking forward
Griga is now planning significant changes. "Needless to say, we need to sign some new players," he said. "Last summer, Sparta signed several players from other Czech clubs, and you can see it didn't work. I've got some insight into Slovak football and I think we could look there. Another option is to bring back some of the Sparta players who've moved abroad."

Worrying times
However, should things continue to take the same trajectory as they have since the summer, Griga may be tempted to head abroad to join them.