Former Newcastle United goalkeeper Pavel Srnicek has died at the age of 47, nine days after suffering a cardiac arrest. Srnicek made 190 appearances for Newcastle in two spells, between 1991 and 1998, and 2006 and 2007. He went on to have spells with Sheffield on December 30, Portsmouth and West Ham before returning to St James’ Park.

He collapsed while running in his native Czech Republic on Sunday, December 20. Srnicek was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital in Poruba and placed in an induced coma. But his agent, Steve Wraith, confirmed that brain scans showed “irreversible” damage and the decision was taken to turn off his life support system on Tuesday afternoon. Srnicek had last been in Newcastle recently to promote his book ‘Pavel is a Geordie’. He was on a whistle-stop tour of Tyneside only 10 days ago. He travelled back to his home country to spend some welcome time with his family.

He is goalkeeping coach at Sparta Prague and has a very hectic schedule. He went out for a jog prior to Christmas and he never returned home. He collapsed with a cardiac arrest. They did manage to get him to hospital and resuscitate him. He has been on life support throughout the festive season, with his family by his bedside. They did a CT scan on his head and on his brain and ultimately the news wasn’t good. His close family were around the bedside. The one thing that has got the family through this horrendous situation has been the huge support, particularly from Newcastle United supporters.