You don’t hide the fact that were it not for football, you wouldn’t be a successful businessman today. What lessons did you learn during your sports career?

There were several and I learned them gradually. I started my career in sports as a forward in my hometown of Blížejov, a village close to Domažlice. I gradually got to Horšovský Týn, where I stood in the net for the first time and became a goalie, and at the age of 17, I transferred to the Přeštice divisional team. But at the same time, I was studying transportation at technical college and the school sent me for training in Cheb after graduating. Try to imagine this on a map - I was working as a train conductor in Cheb while pursuing further education in Ostrov nad Ohří, playing football for Přeštice and living in Blížejov. I essentially spent my entire youth on a train between the residence hall, dormitory, stadium and home. Later, the Přeštice team helped arrange my transfer from Cheb to Zdice, so I could at least move along one railway line. Nevertheless - it was not easy for a young kid. But the really tough lessons happened in Germany.

You left for Germany in 1992, when you were 23 years old. You transferred from Dukla Praha to the second-league SSV Jahn Regensburg club. I assume the reason was the better pay?

Precisely. At Dukla, my basic salary was CZK 9000, and including bonuses for matches I earned around CZK 50,000, which was incredible money at the time. In fact, in 1991 I bought a Skoda Favorit for 92,000 as a mere soldier in military service! A brown one with white rims. Great car. I was the big boss. But I was a kid, and I thought the whole world was waiting just for me. I wanted to earn at least 100,000 a month and in Regensburg, they actually gave me 5000 marks and a company car. At the time, a mark was equal to 25 crowns, so it really was an unbeatable offer. Half a year later in Munich, I was earning 8000 marks.

Did it affect you?

Of course it did. From Munich, I transferred to the second-league Stuttgart Kickers, which was a great team and they took really good care of me. It was there that I learned my first real lesson in life. I was doing really well at the time, and after a while I got an offer to transfer to the major-league club VfB Stuttgart. But I was feeling like the world champion, my nose way up in the air, and instead of being humble, I started having nonsensical ideas. I figured that if VfB wanted me, I didn’t need to train that much, didn’t need to follow the rules, because I am a somebody, right? I would have deserved a good smack in the face... Because I couldn’t handle the success mentally. The transfer to VfB didn’t work out, and I had to leave the Kickers because I was an arrogant ass and they didn’t want me anymore. I thought I was such a star that I’d be catching for the national team. But it wasn’t true. It should be noted that I was never a top goalie. I was somewhat better than average. I’ve always said that I never really had much skill, but I’m so big that they always hit me. What’s more, I’ve never been afraid and I always went headlong into everything. Naturally, today I know that I needed that lesson, but it didn’t occur to me at the time. I thought everybody was treating me badly.

What did you do after being tossed out?

We had a great coach with the Kickers, Wolfgang Wolf, and he really helped me - “helped” from today’s point of view, of course. At the time, I saw things differently. He advised me to return to Czechia and start again from the bottom. He said: sort yourself out, start catching again on a regular basis, and you’ll make it back. He also allowed me to pay my way out of the contract, which was highly unusual at the time. So I bought myself out for the money I had earned in Stuttgart, and I came home.

PAVEL STEINER BUILT A COMPANY THAT EMPLOYS OVER 400 PEOPLE

After a brief engagement with Petržalka in Slovakia and AO Kavala in Greece, you did indeed return to Germany.

Yes, it all turned out just like Wolfgang Wolf had suggested. In the meantime, I learned a few more lessons, although they weren’t my fault this time. At Petržalka, among other things, the club owner pointed a gun at me and I got beaten up inside the stadium because I wasn’t willing to play how the owners wanted, for a pre-arranged result... What a shame. Then the Greek club had major financial issues. Back in Germany, I spent a year playing for Oldenburg, which I remember fondly. The German mentality suited me well, and the people in Oldenburg are so nice.

What did you learn during your stay in China, where you caught goals for two seasons?

My stay in China was a truly formative experience. I earned a vast amount of money, which I later used to start and subsequently salvage my business, but above all I gained incredible life experiences. It is a country of huge extremes. Before I got the contract, I spent six weeks at training camp in Kuming, where all the Chinese football teams trained centrally. It’s a former labour camp, 2600 metres above sea level. The water flowed from one hole in the wall, and the other hole in the floor was the toilet. I slept fully dressed, because it was awfully cold, and the physical trials at that altitude were insane. It was only for the seriously resilient. Lots of people couldn’t stand it and gave up. Then cut - when we made a deal with the club six weeks later, they put me up in a five-star hotel with gold faucets on the bathtub, a sauna in the room and a giant terrace with a sea view. And it went on like this. I played for Canton, which is down near Hong Kong, and we would fly to a match in the north, for instance in Changchun. A domestic flight that took 4 and three quarters of an hour. In Canton it would be 27 degrees and in Changchun minus 16 and snow. We had a teammate from Cameroon, who just got off the plane, and we were one player short because he quit that instant. The air humidity in Canton was around 95%. It was two years of incredibly hard work, and during that entire time I saw nobody from my family, except my sister who came to visit once. A popular catchphrase on the team was: Now, gentlemen, show us your morally free characteristics.

Great training for the tough business world.

Definitely. If it weren’t for sports, I couldn’t do what I’m doing now. I wouldn’t be able to cope. Germany taught me self-control, hard work, precision and discipline, while China gave me resilience, adaptability, creativity, the ability to survive under any conditions, and the ability to improvise. This word is important in China, because you can plan anything you like there, and suddenly everything is different. Which is quite similar to business. Moreover, I had to take care of myself in both countries, and I had to work hard. This wasn’t really anything new to me - my father had a heart attack when I was 12. We had a large farming estate, because we wouldn’t have made do otherwise, and all of a sudden I was in charge of everything. I had been used to working hard since the age of 12, so that’s simply what I kept doing - during my football career and later in business. And last but not least, sports taught me to cope under immense pressure. When we were playing Kaiserslautern with the Kickers, there were 40,000 people in the audience, it was an incredible crowd. In Xi-an in China, there were actually 80,000 people. And you have to put yourself in the net and withstand the incredible pressure. The ability to cope mentally with these stressful situations is something you cannot do without in business. In the past 15 years, I’ve been through several situations when the pressure was so great, that had it not been for my experience and resilience from football, I wouldn’t have managed.

After two brief engagements in Ukraine and Israel, you ended your football career in 2004 with Bohemians Praha. But you had already initiated your “non-football” activities on several fronts. Did you already know that you would be a businessman?

I had always known that I wouldn’t earn enough money with football to be secure for the rest of my life. I was never that good. I also knew that I could never be an employee, because it wouldn’t fulfil me. I’ve always wanted to do something creative, an activity that would leave something behind. I need challenges in life. Every morning, I want to look forward to creating something that day. When I returned in 2003 and started catching for Bohemia, I was already operating a cafe in Prague, helping as a manager for the Libuš divisional team, and taking a pilot’s license.

HE RETURNS TO GOAL A FEW TIMES PER YEAR WITH THE FAMOUS AMFORA

A train conductor who defected to airplanes?

Precisely, but only for a while. And once again, it was because of football. I started cooperating with Bohemia Air, a company that belonged to Hans Spycher, whom I’d met in Stuttgart and who was very interested in working with me. I got my pilot’s license on that occasion, because there had to be somebody in the company who had at least elementary aviation skills. I have flown 172 hours, but my license has expired. At Bohemia Air, I helped to manage handling, meaning complete care for the customers and aircraft. It worked for me, because I’ve always been capable of dealing with people and procuring the services they need. At the time, we had major issues with the carriers shuttling our customers from the airport. At one point, I got tired of always having to deal with it, and I bought my first limousine. An Audi A8, long version, license plate number 4A8 30 30 - I was really popular in Prague back then (laughs). When I had time, I drove the customers myself. When I didn’t, I had several drivers I could call on. Over time, the customers wanted something better than an Audi, so I also bought a Mercedes S Class, and then a Mercedes Viano minivan. All of a sudden, I had three cars. Bookings started snowballing. In the meantime, Hans sold Bohemia Air and I started running my own business.

There was no alternative but your own transportation company?

I thought about it, of course. I asked myself: Fine, what am I actually good at? While still with Dukla, I had started studying physical education at university, but I hadn’t finished because I went to Germany. Maybe I could be a coach? No, I definitely couldn’t. I don’t have the nerves for it. I’d end up killing somebody (laughs). I couldn’t be a train conductor either, because my license had expired in the meantime and I’d have to renew it. The cafe was merely a source of income for me, nothing more, and I couldn’t do the things I would have liked to with the Libuš club, because I had to respect the management and financial constraints. I knew I had to do something on my own. And when this opportunity arose, I knew I would enjoy it. The work is multifaceted; I could apply my language skills and take advantage of my various contacts.

So the history of Umbrella dates back to 2004?

I bought the first cars in 2003, but it was only in 2004 that I truly dedicated myself to the business full-time. I ended my career with the Bohemians in February 2004, after I’d torn the ligaments in my knee for the third time. This was followed by three months of treatment, and then I gave my full attention to business. The first dispatching centre was in my kitchen. I was on call all night, handling bookings and coordinating drivers, and at 7 a.m. the doorbell rang and the dispatcher came in to replace me. At first, my neighbours thought I was running a brothel at home, because young ladies kept coming over (laughs). At 5 p.m., I took over from the dispatcher again and worked all night. And if there were no drivers available, I drove. It was really crazy at first. During the day, I would stride back and forth in front of the cafe at Náměstí Jiřího z Poděbrad, waving my hands around in the air, a phone pressed to one ear, a walkie-talkie to the other, switching between customers and dispatching drivers. Passers-by thought I was insane.

How long did you last like this?

I was on the phone 365/24 for a year and half. It was common for a customer from America to call me at 3 a.m. I would wake up, reach for the telephone next to the bed, deal with the client in English or German and accept the booking. I knew exactly who was calling, from which company, who we would be picking up where, and where we would be dropping them off. Then I’d put the phone down and fall asleep again. In the morning, I’d get up, take my notes and jot everything down. I had to remember all of it. Then I’d divide the work among the drivers. In summer 2005, we moved out of my kitchen into an office and the company started growing.

Who were your customers?

We had an exclusively corporate clientele. Our customers included DHL, IBM, PPF and InBev, and for 10 years we provided exclusive transportation services across Europe for ExxonMobil. This is a reference that later opened the door for me to the bus business. We also drove for film studios and were awarded public contracts. For instance, we provided the Department of Security for Public Officials with complete transportation services for Barack Obama’s entourage during one of his visits to Prague. This meant four airplanes full of people. We also organised transportation during Hillary Clinton’s visit.

What was the toughest thing about starting a new business? Finding new clients?

The toughest thing is always the people, no matter what. People’s approach, finding good employees. Envy is a major problem, as is unfair competition, and stealing from the company. I have dealt with snitching, contemptuous behaviour, endless inspections and the police. Finding clients was paradoxically fairly simple for me, because we largely worked for foreign companies that weren’t accustomed to eastern European practices. And I offered them something that didn’t exist here yet - clean, safe and premium quality cars, polite drivers who would never drive in sandals or a t-shirt and shorts, the option of using any type of credit card to pay in the car, invoices for services... These attributes were really exceptional at the time. So the clients essentially came on their own. What’s more, I had the great advantage of having lived abroad for years. I know the mentalities of various nations and how they communicate. I run every business of mine with a long-term outlook, not with the idea of earning money here and now, and not caring what happens in a week. I’m always completely straightforward, which customers appreciate. Back then, I told myself: We’re not the cheapest, but we offer quality, security and reliability. Our motto was ‘Feel the difference’. It worked then, and it works today. While I had about 10 drivers working for me at the beginning, towards the end there were more than 100. We had 8500 bookings per month.

How did the competition, that being primarily the notorious Prague taxis, respond at the time?

They weren’t thrilled. Several times, I had to deal with them wanting to light my cars on fire, and they even stole one of my cars. The turning point came after one incident, when I was picking up a top manager. Because some kind soul had tipped off the taxi drivers, a crew of four “heroes” was waiting for me at the gas station near the airport. They wanted to teach me a lesson. Me, the guy from the border region who’d been nicknamed the White Bear in China. This time, I didn’t run and I stood up to them. I dealt with the first two, and the other two gave up. The news spread quickly around Prague, and from that point it was more or less peaceful. Later, somebody also set fire to my first bus, so that was rather unpleasant. Today, I try to forget about these negative things, but on the other hand it really strengthened me, and assured me that the path I was taking was the right one.

The second part of the interview with Pavel Steiner is available HERE.

Photo: Umbrella Mobility/Greta Blumajerová and Pavel Steiner’s archive