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Former Newcastle keeper Pavel Srnicek passes away

Srnicek passed away earlier today. He was aged 47.

By Souvik Roy Chowdhury

Former Newcastle keeper and Czech international sadly passed away earlier today at the age of 47. Srnicek was already in a sleep induced coma and living on artificial life support after suffering from what turned out to be a fatal cardiac arrest. A decision was taken earlier today to take him off the life support.

Srnicek joined the magpies in 1991 and enjoyed two spells at the club. During his time, he quickly became a fan favourite and, later on, went on to achieve the status of a cult figure amongst many of the Newcastle faithful. During his eight seasons spent at Tyneside, he made 152 appearances in the Newcastle shirt.

Initially signed by Jim Smith, he quickly became the first choice keeper under Kevin Keegan and helped the team win promotion to the Premier League in the 1992-93 season. After leaving the club in 1998, Pavel returned on a season-long deal in  2006 to cover for the then injured Shay Given. His departure from the club at the end of the 2006-07 season also marked the end of his playing days.

He was acting as a goalkeeping coach at Sparta Prague at the time of his collapse. The fans chanted his name and sang out the famous "Pavel is a Geordie" chant during the break in the game against Everton. The song was supposedly recorded by the club on the request of Pavel's family so that they may play it to him while he was in coma.

The footballing world, from former teammates to fans have been flooding the interwebs with tributes to this charismatic character.

Our thoughts are with his family and friends.

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