Lubo signed for Saint Etienne and made a name for himself in French football…

Lubomír “Lubo” Moravčík, despite popular belief in Scotland, wasn’t an ‘unknown’ quantity when he signed for Celtic. Yes the SMSM fuelled that fire with their disrespectful behaviour towards the Slovakian genius when he signed for the club, but a little more research would have helped them realise he was anything, but an ‘unknown’ or a ‘dud cheque’.

He was a seasoned professional who had played at a World Cup with Czechoslovakia so their snide attitude was unprofessional to say the least. There was a lot more to Lubo as we soon discovered, and would continue to keep on discovering about the little Slovakian.

As the internet continued to grow we discovered for ourselves how good Lubo was during the early years of his career. I myself have uncovered a few details about Lubo previously unknown to myself by researching for this very article, and it’s quite clear he was a special player admired by many.

Lubo was well known in his native then Czechoslovakia where he starred for FC Nitra, the club his father Jan also played for in the 1960s.

It was after sampling the big stage in Italy that he decided to make the move to a ‘bigger league’ and joined French side St Etienne. Lubo was now 25 and perhaps knew it was time to showcase his talents on a bigger stage.

The standard of Czech football was decent, but a bit like our own country it’s unfairly ‘looked down upon and players ultimately need to move on if they want to be viewed differently.

The French First Division was of a decent standard dominated by a superb Marseille side packed with superb players such as Chris Waddle and Jean Pierre Papin. With sides such as Monaco also boasting players such as Glenn Hoddle and exciting youngsters Emmanuel Petit, Lilian Thuram, Youri Djorkaeff, and George Weah.

St Etienne, a once big name in French football, especially in the 1960s when they were champions on four occasions. While in 1976 they reached the European cup final losing out to Bayern Munich at Hampden.

Nine years previously they were also champions of France, and while those days were long off they were looking to improve on the previous seasons disappointing 15th place finish and were looking to achieve better in the following season.

The next season saw some improvement with 13th place achieved. The next was even better as they finished 10th. Season 92/93 which seen French football enjoy something of a renaissance due to Marseille’s European cup win, seen Lubo help St Etienne finish in a respectable 7th place, but just narrowly lost out on a UEFA cup place due to goal difference.

That was it good as it got and eventually after a flirting with relegation Lubo and St Etienne were eventually relegated from the top flight in season 95/96, and Lubo after six years would leave St Etienne, but stayed in the top flight after moving to Bastia who he would help achieve a 7th and 9th place finish as well as victory in the Intertoto cup in his two seasons at the club before moving on to Germany with MSV Duisburg, and the rest as they say is history.

So while not quite hitting the heights in France Lubo did make himself quite known and was well respected by supporters and players alike. Indeed a certain Zindine Zidane is on record as once stating that Lubo was his favourite player while playing in France. Fine praise indeed.

Just an Ordinary Bhoy