Mlad Fer It: Mlada Boleslav 2-2 Pardubice

With a long gap between paydays, I only allowed myself one longer trip until the middle of next month - that being Mlada Boleslav. In my attempts to tick off every ground in the Czech First League, I wanted to get this one out of the way after all I'd heard about it.

My expectations were low, with the greatest of respect to the club (who've come on leaps and bounds over the years), and the town. David and Sam of Zbrojovkast (who you should absolutely listen to) both told me the town was essentially a huge car factory. Given that the game against Pardubice would be a Sunday too, everything would be shut, bar the fast-food restaurants and supermarkets. And of course the football stadium from around 12 until 3-ish...

Put simply, there was a lot riding on this game being at least semi-decent. I had hoped in my heart of hearts for a repeat of that famous (or infamous) 9-5 nonsense against Zlin last season. That kind of scoreline, however, is probably once in a lifetime. That said, the 2-2 draw was more than enough to satisfy that particular itch, with both teams putting on an excellent spectacle for the neutral.

The reason I'd chosen Mlada Boleslav as my first top tier port of call this season was a fascination with the new European darlings of the Czech league. Trips to Armenia, Portugal and Norway await for MB and their relatively small fanbase, but how did what is essentially the flagship team of the Skoda factory become one of the more consistent sides in the division?

Well, the club won promotion some two decades ago, and haven't dropped out of the league since - a 14th placed finish in their first season was the closest they came to returning to the 2nd tier. From 2013 to 2017, they even managed four consecutive finishes inside the top four, with last season's 5th placed finish being their best effort since then.

The ground, the game, and any other business

It's only when you attend a Mlada Boleslav game, you realise how unusual a club it is, with their 5,000 capacity stadium often only being just over half full. I'd heard through various grape vines that workers in the Skoda factory had often been given free tickets to compensate for a certain lack of interest from the locals. 

That said, it didn't feel like that - the Bolka Utras made a racket throughout, which made for an excellent atmosphere. Though the ground was half full, the noise from both sets of supporters perhaps suggested otherwise.

I'd left Brno at 7.39, arriving in Kolin at around 9.30. I had an hour to kill in Kolin (I walked aimlessly around a shopping centre), before heading to Nymburk, where I'd catch the final train to Mlada Boleslav Mesto, with around an hour to kill before kick-off. 

Regretably, my friends were right about there being barely anything to do around the stadium, bar get some lunch at KFC or one of the other fast food outlets at the shopping centre. They seem to love their shopping centres around these here parts...

When kick off arrived, it didn't take long for the opener, which surprisingly went the way of Pardubice. I went to watch Pardubice back in February, with Tomas Zlatohlavek opening the scoring before the minute mark against Teplice. Though not as quick off the mark this time, he still opened the scoring against the run of play before the tenth minute.

Boleslav could feel hard done by based on the balance of play, but it was a sloppy goal to concede in truth. Tomas Ladra equalised with a gorgeous first-time finish from just inside the box on 35 minutes, meaning both sides would go in level at the break.

Immediately after the break, the excellent Vasil Kusej capitalised on some miscommunication between defence and goalkeeper to give the hosts a deserved lead. Then, with his first touch of the ball, the brilliantly named Ladislav Krobot scored with his rather acrobatic first touch from the bench to level the scores once more, this time for the away side.

Kusej thought he'd scored on the 72nd minute, only for a lengthy VAR delay to rule the goal offside. It seemed to take the wind out of Boleslav's sails, as Pardubice could have won it had they chosen not to settle for an admittedly decent point as far as they are concerned. For Boleslav, however, a real missed opportunity.

Five things you may not have known about...Mlada Boleslav

1.) Skoda are based in Mlada Boleslav, and are the biggest employer in the entire country. The company started as a bicycle manufacturer under the name of Laurin and Klement in the late 19th Century. Vaclav Klement was a mere bookseller with a broken German bicycle, who'd written a letter to the manufacturers, in Czech, only to be met with a German reply asking him to write in a language they would understand. Despite no experience or expertise, he sensed opportunity, and started a bicycle repair company with Vaclav Laurin, which following The Great War, would be partnered with Skoda of Plzen - an arms manufacturer looking to expand operations. The rest, as they say, is history.

2.) The club actually donned the name Aston Villa Mlada Boleslav from 1919 to 1948, in honour of the English club, and due to the location of the original pitch; Na Vile.

3.) In the early nineties, the club were alternating between the second and third tiers, and were actually a farm team for both Slavia Prague, and Bohemians, albeit at different points during the decade. They won promotion to the First League in 2004, however, and have remained ever since. Last season's fifth placed finish is their highest finish since 2017.

4.) This fifth placed finish brought the reward of Europa Conference League football with it, though not without seeing off the likes of  Transinvest (Lithuania), Hapoel Beer Sheva (Israel), and Paks (Hungary). Despite this incredible success, they sacked previous manager David Holoubek after just eight months, replacing him with Swede Andreas Brannstrom. Incredibly, he is Mlada Boleslav's first ever foreign coach, even including Slovaks.

5.) This isn't the first time Mlada Boleslav have made a group or league stage of a European tournament. They've done it twice before, getting to the UEFA Cup in both 2006-07 and 2007-08. The first campaign saw them get three draws and a defeat, with one of the draws being a goalless one at home to PSG before Qatari investment. They did beat Elfsborg the following season 3-1, but lost to Villareal, Fiorentina and AEK Athens.