Roman Bednar inspired by Hearts 2005/06 team as he coaches Czech youths to 100-goal season

Goalnets across the Czech Republic will welcome the respite brought by football's shutdown. They have been battered senseless all season by Roman Bednar's free-scoring Bohemians Prague youth team.

Inspired by the Hearts side of 2005/06, the former Tynecastle striker is coaching his local club's under-16s to ridiculous levels of penalty-box vigour. A total of 101 goals in just 16 league games were plundered by the young Bohemians before coronavirus struck – stats to make even Rudi Skacel and Paul Hartley proud.

Those are just two of the former team-mates Bednar draws on whilst moulding his team in the image of one he played in. The teenage Czechs aren't quite strutting around sporting Hummel arrows and Ukio Bankas logos, but their free-scoring exploits would certainly do justice to George Burley's group.

Bohemians' colours are ironically green and white, yet there is a certain swagger and ruthlessness which gives their coach a more familiar vision. Bednar helped Hearts score 85 competitive goals in 2005/06 and preaches a similar attacking philosophy to his players.

"When they stopped the season we were second in the table, two points off the top. The league is full of teams one year older so it is more difficult for us," explains Bednar, now 37. "We had 16 games and scored more than 100 goals. So you can see that I am working on the offence," he laughs.

Does he have a Skacel or a Hartley-type in the team? "I wish. Maybe in the future I will have great players like Rudi or Paul." He regularly looks back whilst trying to build that future. Two years at Tynecastle left an indelible imprint in Bednar's memory.

"I always think about that team. Always. Everything fitted together like a puzzle. It is a great inspiration for me and I take everything I learned with me now that I am a coach. Football teaches you about life, not only sport.

"Scotland was my first opportunity to play abroad and I enjoyed it. Everybody in that Hearts team enjoyed it, we had a great team spirit. I always think about it and look back to it, even now."Everybody in the dressing room knew what they wanted. I wanted to go to England one day so I went to Hearts. It was not just a train station to go through. I went there to stay a couple of years and I think I did my best. Everyone did.

"I still think of [Saulius] Mikoliunas. He was a young player and he was trying his best. We had Rudi and Paul, who had unbelievable seasons. We had Robbie Neilson and other players from the Scottish national team.

"Steven Pressley, for me, was like a hero when I was young. As a player and a human being, I always wanted to be like him. I hope at some time I will see him in the future because he was my captain and I miss him. For me, it was a pleasure to play under him and to play for Hearts when I was very young."

It seems apt that Bohemians' chairman is rather famous for rippling the net himself. Antonin Panenka is a living legend in Prague's Vršovice region and across the globe for his chipped penalty to win the 1976 European Championship for Czechoslovakia. His surname is synonymous with that very technique.

Attacking seems to be in the Bohemians DNA. It is certainly in Bednar's. He gave up playing three years ago due to persistent back pain and accepted a coaching role at one of his formative clubs because he "wanted to pay my dues back".

"My back was hurting me and I wanted to enjoy a normal life, so I finished a little bit early when I was 33. I enjoy coaching the young players now. Maybe one day I can be a better gaffer. That is the dream, but now I enjoy teaching the kids.

"I was always thinking about other players when I was a player. I always made my team like my family, I would say. I try to coach the boys to be better players but also to be better human beings. Sometimes it is difficult being a teenager so I must be like a father, a friend, a coach, everything.

"I try to win every game with these young players so you try everything possible to make that happen. I will be funny sometimes when we need to laugh, other times I will not be shouting but I will be firm so they know what I mean."

Bednar admits he was not always easy to coach as a player during spells with Hearts, West Bromwich Albion, Blackpool, Sparta Prague and others. He also won eight senior caps for the Czech Republic.

"I would say I would be difficult, but that doesn't mean bad things. I have a character that is easy-going but sometimes I can be difficult. I always try to smile every morning in my life. I try to be positive every day."

His family, including children aged four, five and 16, plus a dog, keep him happy with lockdown gradually easing in Prague. Football won't resume for a while, though. Sparta and Slavia are Prague's biggest clubs, with Bohemians third in command. Bednar is happy there but does harbour thoughts of managing at international level one day.

"I know what it takes to reach a high level in football and it's really hard work. The higher you go, the stronger the people are. I don't know if I want to go back on this train because I am enjoying coaching the teenagers," he says.

"But we will see, you never know. I am still young and maybe one day I will want to become a great gaffer, like maybe coaching the national team. You never know in the future. It's a dream and dreams should be high. I have been coaching for three years now and I really can say that I am a good gaffer. Maybe one day I will be a great gaffer."