NI GOALKEEPING
A resource for Northern Ireland goalkeepers
Introduction to the boot room
Most senior Football clubs have a place where everyone involved at that club often finds themselves involved in a discussion about football or the issues surrounding it.
Every club is different, every boot room is different or the boot room has a different name.
The boot room is where everyone just ends up and this unofficial meeting place is often the place for casual or heated discussion.
We have decided to call this area of the site ‘the boot room’ because in many clubs the boot room is a place where everyone has to go before and after training so meetings often happen there.
In the area you will find articles about goalkeeping that are more general and stimulate further discussion. If you would like to add a article to the area please email me at Alan@nigoalkeeping.com and it will be considered for inclusion.
World Cup 2010 - England keeper 'should wear red'
Fri, 16 Apr 12:19:00 2010
Sports psychologists claim England’s goalkeeper should wear red at the World Cup - because opposing players are more likely to miss penalties when faced with the colour.
A study at the University of Chichester found that players missed spot-kicks significantly more frequently when the keeper wore a red shirt compared with blue, green or yellow.
The research saw 40 footballers take dozens of penalties against a single keeper who changed his strip between the four colours. Only 54 per cent of kicks went in against the red-clad keeper, while success rates against yellow, blue and green were 69, 72 and 75 per cent respectively.
This makes for a 46 per cent miss rate compared to 25-31 per cent for the other colours.
Iain Greenlees, reader in sports psychology at the university, said that people could be distracted by "threatening stimuli", such as colour, in pressure situations.
"We have evolved to strongly associate red with danger, dominance or anger and at times of great stress we pay more attention to threats in our environment," he said.
"It is too late to change the whole goalkeeping strip to red but the manager should think about integrating red into part of the kit, in the gloves or boots for example."
England lost penalty shoot-outs in the 1990, 1998 and 2006 World Cups with Peter Shilton, David Seaman and Paul Robinson in goal.
English keepers generally wear green or yellow. David James, Robert Green and Joe Hart are expected to be England’s three keepers at the summer World Cup in South Africa.
James (pictured) wears a bright pink kit while playing for club side Portsmouth.
Wolves keeper Hahnemann has to play new ball games too often
Jan 10 2010 by Andy Walker
WOLVES keeper Marcus Hahnemann has said balls to sports manufacturers for making his job harder.
Top sports brands are constantly striving to produce the next generation of football, with the latest being the adidas Jabulani, specially-designed for this summer’s World Cup in South Africa.However the lighter, more aerodynamic, design can make life difficult for goalkeepers due to its apparent unpredictability when in flight.
In a bid to create the perfect match ball, companies have turned to science and adidas claims the Jabulani, which means ‘to celebrate’ in Zulu, is the ‘roundest ever’.
However, the fancy marketing behind such creations doesn’t sit well with Hahnemann, who has labelled companies like adidas ‘idiots’.
It may seem a minor issue to some but during an exclusive interview with the Sunday Mercury, the American couldn’t hold back his strong views on the subject and even admitted that it’s often like playing with ‘plastic beach balls’.
“I think it is a joke,” slammed the 37-year-old. “You go from ball to ball and it totally changes, the size isn’t even the same with half of them.
“The Premier League ball, the Nike ball, is the one I’m probably most used to and it feels the best when you kick it, it’s the truest we’ve got, it still moves around once in a while but not like the other ones. Those will knuckle if you hit them with no spin while the other ones move like those little plastic beach balls. They move in the wrong direction and they don’t feel right when you kick them.
“There’s always been bad balls out there, you get them once in a while, you just don’t want to play with them, but that’s been taken to a whole new level now.
“They’re trying to make balls now that you’re going to score from 95 yards. No one can actually head the ball because they can’t read it off a corner kick anymore. The ball moves so quickly and knuckles all over the place that there’s not as many headers on goal, it’s only long-range shots.
“You go to Germany, one team is Nike, the next team is Adidas and the home team picks the ball so every week you are playing with a different ball and that is crazy.
“At least they’ve limited it to the competitions (in England). The other week in the League Cup game we were playing with the Umbro ball and we had eight of those balls for training but we have 30 balls out for training. So you’re trying to get used to it a few days prior to it and it’s just not enough.
“I haven’t seen the new World Cup ball but I know that the old one that we played with the national team over in Denmark was just terrible.
“You just have to get on with it, I’m not going to change adidas’ vision on what a soccer ball is supposed to be like. I just think they are idiots.”
Bad balls aside, Hahnemann is having a pretty decent season having arrived in the Black Country last summer in danger of finding himself as third-choice goalkeeper at Wolves.
The young, albeit internationally-experienced, Wayne Hennessey was in possession of the number one spot while the perennially-injured Matt Murray appeared to be on the road to recovery. Not forgetting that Carl Ikeme was also added competition for the gloves.
However, halfway into the season Wolves’ place between the sticks is Hahnemann’s to lose and the US international admits that his experience played a major part in his Molineux promotion.
“I knew from the beginning that Wayne had played most of the games last season, Carl had played a few, Matt was injured but we all know how good Matt is as well, so I was definitely going to have my work cut out for me,” he said. “I picked up a slight injury in pre-season so that held me back a little bit but once everything got going it was pretty good.
“I couldn’t get in the team but Wayne was playing well, the team were playing well but we weren’t getting the results we needed. Eventually we needed to change something and the manager gave me a chance, I was training really well and working super hard.
“One of the reasons why I was brought in was because of my experience. I’ve been through everything. I’ve been in the big games where I’ve let in seven and as good as it gets – clean sheets at Man United. All of those experiences help keep you pretty level-headed.”
EXCLUSIVE: I quit to escape the players who didn’t care, says Shane Supple
By Michael Walker
Last updated at 12:26 AM on 15th September 2009
The game is the dream, the dream is to make it and for most of us it is just that, a dream. But for a few it becomes reality and on August 13, 2005, Shane Supple achieved his dream.
Three months after his 18th birthday, goalkeeper Supple appeared as an Ipswich Town substitute at Leicester City in the 35th minute and kept a clean sheet.
Shane Supple had arrived in professional football. Almost four years to the day, Shane Supple departed, saying he no longer wanted this reality.
The way he was: Shane Supple warms up for Ipswich earlier this year before his decision to quit the Suffolk club
Now 22, Supple walked into the office of his new manager, who happened to be Roy Keane, and said so. It was a Wednesday morning, Keane was ‘taken aback’.
By Thursday, the press were informed and Supple’s phone ‘started hopping’. On Friday, he sold his house in East Anglia and by Saturday, Supple was back in his native Dublin.
He could not have been happier, the rest of us could not have been more bemused.
What about the dream? Sitting in a Dublin hotel, Supple explained what brought him to a conclusion that so few comprehend. Having started school a year early, Supple left Ireland permanently for Ipswich aged only 15 and he was frank about homesickness.
There were good and bad spells for a keeper who played for the Republic of Ireland Under 21s. He enjoyed ‘the banter’ at Ipswich and made friends but he also noticed ‘the politics’ and ‘young players getting sucked into a kind of lifestyle that was not for him’.
Supple recalls: ‘Even if I could have afforded to drive a Bentley, that’s not what I was in it for. Some seem to think it’s about flashiness, the big house, big money, cars. That wouldn’t be my take on things.
'I remember Joe Royle saying that some of them think they’re stars and they’re not even players.’
He will not identify individuals, but the effect was that ‘things snowballed slowly in my head.’
Shock: Supple surprised everyone at Ipswich by quitting football earlier this year
His dream has been replaced by an ambition, to follow his father Brendan into the Irish police force, the Garda Siochana.
But to many his decision still remains sudden and inexplicable. Supple signed a one-year contract at Portman Road in June, but he revealed that doubts sprouted just a few months after his debut at Leicester.
‘The decision was brewing over a number of years. The first time I thought this might not be the thing for me was the Christmas of 2005. That was my first Christmas away.
‘My dad came over for the Boxing Day game and I remember saying to him then, “I don’t think this is the thing for me. I don’t like what I’m seeing”.
'When you’re a young lad your one aim is to get into the first team. You’re in digs, you’re training, you’re resting, all you’re looking at is the first team. Being away from home can be difficult on top of that, but at first it wasn’t a problem for me.
'Then I got into the first team and I saw that some of the lads didn’t really care whether we won or lost. I didn’t really like that, that was disillusioning. Things weren’t going great at the club at the time, which I suppose didn’t help, but it made me question whether this was what I wanted to do.
'I was 18. That was when it started to creep in. I was in the team as well, so it was a strange one. The season finished and the manager, Joe Royle, left. The same feelings were in the back of my head and I nearly did it then.
'I thought, “I’ll go home, this isn’t for me”. But I stayed, probably for the wrong reasons, for other people. But I didn’t want to let people down.’
On the family side?
‘Yes. My father saw it as a great opportunity for me, make X amount, get set up for life.
'He was doing his job, struggling hard and he found it hard to understand at first. Now he understands. He’s been great about it.’
Inevitably, there was a belief that there had been a confrontation with Keane, but Supple signed the new contract on the basis of Keane’s arrival.
No regrets: Supple insists he is happy despite turning his back on football
‘People said I couldn’t get on with Roy, but if that was the case then I’d have gone to another club.’
Keane’s first pre-season at Ipswich featured two days at an Army barracks doing assault courses and sleeping rough. The climax was the killing of a pig for dinner (by soldiers) and Supple proudly recalls that he was on the winning team.
‘They said the pig would not feel it, but the pig shrieked,’ he said.
That did not prevent him eating it, though, while others declined.
So Keane was not a reason, but others’ reluctance on that two-day test clearly reinforced some beliefs within Supple.
‘I’m a bit old-fashioned, maybe that was a problem. Playing 30 years ago would have been ideal, I always thought that. Ipswich itself is a nice place. But the academy system makes young players complacent.’
Supple has rejoined his Gaelic football club in Dublin and started playing again. He likes the fact that they wash their own boots and kit.
No feud: Supple insists his decision wasn't sparked by a disagreement with Ipswich boss Roy Keane
‘It’s a far cry from Ipswich and everything being laid out for you,’ he says.
He also enjoyed his brief loan spell at Falkirk ‘because the players brought packed lunches’.
He has re-entered education already but is realistic about a new career in Ireland’s shattered economy.
He should also be realistic about the questions that keep getting asked.
He added: ‘People can’t get their heads around it, they’re saying that there must be something else.
‘But plain and simply, there’s not. I’m a bit different in my mentality. I know what I want out of life, and sometimes that’s difficult to explain, but I know how I felt.
'Everyone wants to be happy and that wasn’t the case for me over
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1213474/EXCLUSIVE-I-quit-escape-players-didn-t-care-says-Shane-Supple.html#ixzz0ack2zrQE
Virtual reality training programme
Virtual reality training programme to make soccer goalkeepers perform more efficiently
A new virtual reality training programme created at Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, could help soccer goalkeepers to perform more efficiently and improve their chances of success.
In order to provide research for this programme, Alan Simpson (IFA Goalkeeping Coach) accompanied by two highly experienced Irish League goalkeepers, Alan Mannus (Shamrock Rovers and Northern Ireland International) and Michael Dougherty (PSNI Soccer Team, former Portadown/ Glentoran Keeper) collaborated with researchers from Queens School of Psychology. The goalkeeping team attended Queen’s University Belfast Campus on Thursday 17th December 2009 to work with School of Psychology researchers on a range of virtual training scenarios that tested expert players’ perceptual skills.
According to Dr Cathy Craig, lead researcher in the project, “Immersing players in an interactive virtual reality provides an exciting new way of exploring and understanding human behaviour. The advantages of this technology are that unlike playing a video game on a normal desktop computer, the goalkeeper or athlete is totally immersed in a realistic simulated environment,” she said. By presenting stereoscopic images in a head mounted display and tracking head movements, the user’s viewpoint is automatically updated, giving a 360 degree virtual experience. This means that the user becomes totally absorbed in their virtual environment encouraging them to interact as they would in the real world,” she added.
The players are fitted with a ‘backpack’ of sensors and don a helmet-like visor known as a head mounted display through which a series of 360-degree virtual scenarios are displayed.
Alan Mannus fitted with backpack, head visor and sensors
“Our research is concerned with identifying the key events that influence decisions made by players on the pitch,” said PhD student Gareth Watson from Queen’s, who was also involved in the project.
“By controlling the events presented to the players, we can see how the visual information available to the participants at any moment in time influences the player’s decision about when and how to act,” he added.
According to Alan Simpson, IFA Goalkeeping Coach, “Working alongside the researchers in Psychology at Queen’s has provided us with a very useful visual coaching tool that can be used to develop a goalkeeper’s peripheral vision.”
“This is a vital aspect of a goalkeeper’s game and we are looking forward to it improving decision making for our players in a real match setting,” he said.
Michael Dougherty wearing the helmet-like visor with backpack and sensors
This was the first session in an ongoing project with valuable feedback from the goalkeepers helping to shape improvements to the research programme to make it as realistic as possible. Both the goalkeepers and the research team look forward to further sessions to develop what will hopefully become a valuable coaching tool for goalkeepers.
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How spot checks help Premier League keepers
foil hot-shots like Frank Lampard, Jermain Defoe and Cesc Fabregas
By Chris Wheeler Last updated at 10:10 PM on 07th December 2009
Penalties have been the curse of England in major tournaments, and the sight of Frank Lampard and Jermain Defoe failing from 12 yards for their clubs at the weekend did not inspire confidence that it will be any different in South Africa next summer.
But they were not alone. Cesc Fabregas and Aruna Dindane were also denied from the spot, with all four players seeing their efforts saved by the goalkeeper.
Only one penalty in the Barclays Premier League was successfully converted, by John Carew for Aston Villa
Saving a point: Tim Howard's stop from Jermain Defoe gave Everton a draw
Manchester City goalkeeper Shay Given thanked his coach Kevin Hitchcock for information on the usually dependable Lampard after his late save sent Chelsea to defeat, and Louis Saha relayed advice from Everton goalkeeper coach Chris Woods to Tim Howard before the American denied Defoe an even later winner for Tottenham at Goodison Park.
It has become common in football, from Jens Lehmann tucking a scribbled note from team-mate Oliver Khan into his glove before emerging as the Germany hero against Argentina in a quarter-final shoot-out at the 2006 World Cup, to Ben Foster studying video footage on an iPod to help Manchester United beat Spurs on penalties in last season's Carling Cup final.
So, was last weekend a one-off, or are goalkeepers clawing back an advantage that has rested with the penalty taker for so long?
'It's not a one-off at all,' says Nigel Spink, the former Villa goalkeeper now a coach at Sunderland. 'The takers know we have the advantage of technology. They know the keeper might go their favourite way. It helps to get inside their heads.
'We quite enjoy sitting down and trying to work it out. There is more information these days to psych out the taker, and it's evened it up slightly.
'Each week we do our homework before the game and look at footage of the opposition's penalty takers. Then we print out a sheet showing where each one puts his penalties.
'At Sunderland the keepers are happy to remember it, but at Wigan Chris Kirkland would look over to me and I'd point which way I thought it was going to go.'
Under the spotlight: Cesc Fabregas misses a penalty against Stoke (above) while Manchester City keeper Shay Given saves from Chelsea's Frank Lampard (below)
Technology can only help so much, however. Nigel Martyn, Howard's predecessor at Everton and now helping out as a goalkeeper coach at Bradford, remembers coming on for his debut in place of Richard Wright against Newcastle and having no chance with two Alan Shearer penalties.
Martyn believes studying the player's run-up before the kick is as important as knowing which part of the goal he usually chooses.
'It's all well and good looking where he's taken them before but it's a preference rather than a guarantee,' said Martyn. 'If a right-footed player is going to place it to the right, the left arm will be lifted. If he's going to the left, the left arm will be tucked in and lower. Another thing we look for is the angle of the run-up.
That's how to do it: John Carew of Aston Villa scores against Hull
'In the Tottenham and Chelsea games, the delay for the injuries made it harder for Lampard and Defoe. But if you look back, it's happened before. It will to and fro on any given day. The odds are still in the taker's favour.'
Illness, injury and the loneliness of a top keeper all contribute to tragedy
The pressures on this top German keeper were personal and professional, writes Rob Hughes.
Photo: AFP
The official website of the Hannover 96 football club was blacked out midweek except for a simple statement: Wir trauern um Robert Enke. We mourn for Robert Enke.
He was the club's keeper and its captain, and a good chance to make Germany's World Cup team next year. On Tuesday evening, Enke was hit and killed by a train at a level crossing near his home.
Almost at once, the police talked of suicide, and his widow, Teresa, who had to identify the body at the scene, said that Enke suffered from a depression he feared could result in their family being broken up.
Germany was in shock. The mood from Chancellor Angela Merkel down was of silent waiting. Enke, 32, had an adopted eight-month-old daughter, Leila, and lived on a farm where he and his wife, both animal rights campaigners, kept many pets.
The national squad, in Bonn preparing for a friendly match against Chile on Saturday, cancelled training on Wednesday. The match was also cancelled.
Enke could have been with the team but for a recent intestinal infection, and Oliver Bierhoff, the national squad manager, summed it up: ''We are too shocked to find words.''
Enke's car, a Mercedes, was found near the crossing, unlocked and with his wallet on the passenger seat. The two train drivers saw a man on the track and applied the brakes, but at 160 kilometres an hour could not slow in time.
The police said there was a suicide note, and German newspapers ran with two lines of commentary. One was that Enke, a quiet and reserved individual, was a troubled man ever since his biological daughter, Lara, died at the age of two in 2006. She had a rare heart malformation. The other was the loneliness, the uncertainty, of a goalie's situation.
On Wednesday afternoon, Teresa Enke said at a news conference attended by her husband's psychologist that he was first treated in 2003. ''When he was acutely depressive, he lacked motivation and hope,'' she said. ''I tried to be there for him. I said football is not everything, there are many beautiful things in life. It is not hopeless.''
The psychologist, Dr Valentin Markser, said Enke feared failure.
As a boy, Enke chose to play in the most exposed position, the last line of defence, and be first blamed when things went wrong.
His counselling began when he moved to Barcelona for the 2002 season. He was the eternal understudy there. Barcelona thought highly of him, but lent him to Fenerbahce of Istanbul, then to Tenerife. His Turkish misadventure lasted just one match, a loss. Fenerbahce fans bombarded him with firecrackers and missiles in their anger at losing.
Finally, he found relative security at Hannover, where he stayed for five years despite offers from more glamorous clubs. He was the captain, chosen in part by his fellow players. When Jens Lehmann retired from Germany's national team after Euro 2008, Enke was expected to be entrusted with the No.1 shirt.
It was not certain. In keeping, more than any other position, you are only as good as your last mistake. There must be trust between the coach and the last man standing, and the goalie must have an authority that defenders in front of him also like and trust.
Enke was being pressed by Rene Adler, the 24-year-old Bayer Leverkusen keeper. Enke had more experience, Adler has youth, greater height and reach and the advantage of playing for the leaders of Germany's Bundesliga.
Joachim Loew, the coach, was thought to favour Enke for the 2010 World Cup. But of course no coach would make such a promise, because it would be too great a disincentive to other keepers.
It seems the uncertainty fed Enke's anxiety. Illness and injury could not have helped. A year ago, shortly after Lehmann left the national squad, Enke lost two months to a broken hand.
In what would be his final game for Germany in August, he had a keeper's dream score, shutting out Azerbaijan. Then he contracted an intestinal virus that cost him another nine weeks.
The loneliness of a player sidelined for months, the exclusion from team training and comradeship, are all part of the professional experience.
As fans laid wreaths and lit candles at the gates to the stadium, Teresa Enke faced the media there. She said: ''He was scared of losing Leila if his depression came out. Now it is coming out anyway. We thought we could do everything with love, but you can't always do it.''
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Goalkeepeers cry foul as new ball means it's raining goals in the Premier League
There have been more goals in the top flight so far this season than at any time since 1967-68 and the men between sticks are blaming the latest Nike ball
Even Chelsea's Petr Cech, considered on of the best goalkeepers in the world, has been troubled by the new Nike ball. Photograph: NIGEL RODDIS/REUTERS
Early autumn may be proving gloriously dry and sunny but, in that parallel universe known as the Premier League, it simply cannot stop raining goals. So far this season there have been an average of 2.95 per game, the highest in the top flight since 1967-68. Small wonder members of the goalkeepers' union are concerned that the new Premier League ball, the Nike Total 90 Ascente, is responsible for a goal glut that is wreaking havoc with their self-esteem and professional reputations.
"This ball flies truer and further than any ball before it," said Leo Sandino-Taylor, a Nike spokesman. "It will test keepers more than ever, providing great goals and even better saves." In its publicity, Nike boasts: "It gives keepers sleepless nights."
Suddenly those who, only a few years ago, were arguing the case for enlarging goalmouths in a bid to keep football interesting find themselves stranded as modernisers without a cause. Jamie Redknapp, the former Liverpool and Tottenham midfielder, who has used the ball, explained: "It explodes off your foot, fluctuates in the air, changes course en route to goal and can develop incredible pace. No wonder they say you have to be mad to be a goalkeeper."
The science behind it can be bewildering but the end results are frequently bewitching. With each ball's panels designed to support precisely the same amount of pressure, Nike claims that shooting accuracy is enhanced significantly. When struck, energy is distributed evenly through the sphere from the point of contact, thereby ensuring a wholly consistent touch. Allied to a dimpled, golf-ball-like casing which improves the ball's flight by equalising airflow over its surface, this ensures that strikers and dead-ball specialists have found a new friend.
Bob Wilson, the former Arsenal goalkeeper and later goalkeeping coach, has watched the developments in ball technology over the past 10 years with a degree of resignation.
"We're talking about a multimillion-pound business with the object to get bums on seats," he said. "That is not going to happen if goalkeepers are preventing more goals. Balls have to be made in accordance with Fifa regulations but everyone is in cahoots to make the 'product' more exciting and that means making it easier to score."
Over the past decade balls have become markedly lighter. "They go up, down, left and right before reaching the goalkeeper," explained Wilson. "When I played balls were heavy and the flight was almost always true. You could adjust your feet within five yards of it leaving the player's foot and we almost always aimed to catch it. Nowadays they are so light and thin they swing about so much keepers don't know where they're going until the last 10 or sometimes five yards.
"That's why players can't commit themselves to catching and often need to leave an arm trailing in case of a last moment change of direction. It also explains why no goalkeeper in the Premier League is really consistent. They are all making mistakes, including Petr Cech."
Wilson illustrated his argument with a wonderful anecdote. "A few years ago a man from Nike brought some new balls for Jens Lehmann to work with at Arsenal. After a few shots went in, Jens said: 'This is getting stupid' and booted the ball away into the adjacent training ground used by Watford. Insisting the balls were actually goalkeeper friendly, Nike's man then volunteered to go in goal himself. Jens immediately smashed a shot straight at him, it moved in four different directions before hitting Mr Nike squarely in the face and laying him out."
Even so, the Sunderland manager, Steve Bruce, believes the goal boom is less about bionic balls than the more straightforward explanation of several teams simultaneously upgrading their attacking departments. "The stats are incredible but I don't think the new balls are making a difference," he said. "It's just that teams are spending a lot of money on really good strikers."
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Champions League Balls Are Terrible - Real Madrid Keeper Casillas
Ball manufacturers have gone too far and made their products too lightweight, according to the Madrid custodian...
Sep 1, 2009 1:28:26 PM
Iker Casillas has slammed the the design of the Champions League ball after testing it, and thinks that things have gone too far in a bid to produce more goals.
The Real Madrid keeper is infuriated that Adidas' latest ball moves in the air and is lighter than before, meaning that predicting its path is even more difficult.
While stating that Nike's league balls still fly truly through the air, Casillas is not a fan of the new Adidas Finale 9, which he believes no longer moves straight.
“I am sorry but it has got to the stage where it just can’t be allowed to continue,” he was quoted as saying “How they make the balls makes things difficult these days, particularly the one for the Champions League. “The flight is terrible, you saw that at the Confederations Cup and the European Championship.
“The ball used in the league is a bit better, it can do strange things but not many. The other one is a complete disaster.” Top of Page
How many teams invest 1/11 of their budget in their Goalkeeper's skills?
Aussie Analysis: Australia's Goalkeeping Crisis
An injury to Mark Schwarzer and Australian goalkeeping could encounter serious problems, learns Goal.com's Chris Paraskevas...
10 Jul 2009 06:34:54
With Mark Schwarzer in the form of his career and seemingly unbeatable between the posts for the Socceroos, it appears as though Australian goalkeeping is in safe hands.
Backing up the 36 year-old, who has been in imperious form for both club and country this season, is veteran shot-stopper Michael Petkovic, who enjoyed one of his best ever campaigns in Europe as his Turkish club Sivasspor narrowly missed out on what would have been the first league title in their history.
Closer scrutiny of Australia’s goalkeeping options however would reveal that the Socceroos are closer to a crisis situation than many might realize, according to goalkeeping legend Jim Fraser.
Fraser, the Australia’s first ever ‘keeper to perform at the World Cup Finals in 1974 where he was a key member of Rale Rasic’s history-making Socceroos squad, warns that whilst there are talented goalkeepers still being produced, the options beyond Schwarzer and Petkovic are limited.
“The problem with Australian goalkeeping is that we haven’t got anybody experienced under Mark [Schwarzer] coming through,” Fraser told Goal.com in an exclusive interview.
“I’ve been saying for ten years that we’ve got a problem in that area.
“We’ve got [Adam] Federici coming through, [Dean] Bouzanis and those guys but they’re very inexperienced - you can’t throw them into a World Cup match and expect them to excel.”
The former Australia ‘keeper doubts that even the 32 year-old Petkovic could be capable of stepping in for Mark Schwarzer at the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa.
“Jason Petkovic is playing week after week in Turkey and is playing very well but could he step up to a World Cup match under pressure?
“That’s the problem – it’s a big step up. People can play at the top level but to play at a World Cup match where the world’s attention is on you if the team go out, that’s a big cross to bear.”
According to Fraser, goalkeeper development was neglected by the previous administrators in charge of Australian football and it continues to suffer from a lack of funding an attention.
Such is the level of neglect of goalkeeping in the game that Fraser started up the International Goalkeeping Academy nine years ago out of his own pocket in order to facilitate the development of aspiring shot-stoppers at all levels of the game.
“We’ve been lax and neglected goalkeepers,” Fraser continued. “We certainly don’t spend one-eleventh of our budget on coaching for goalkeepers.
“They’ve always been an add on and that’s why my academy started, out of my own funds, because it was always the first thing that was chopped out of budget but they still expect you to play on the night and do the right things.
He added: “I think the solution is that we need to pump a bit more money into it and give a little bit more recognition to what we do.
“I think Football Federation Australia (FFA) are certainly on the right track now and I think the old regime neglected us for a long period of time.
“We’ve got Tony Franken who is the Australian goalkeeping coach, we’re updating training curriculums under him and we’re looking to go to the right area but our immediate is problem right now.
“Who do you have at number 2 and 3? Petkovic is the obvious number 2 but the number 3 is a lottery ticket.
“That’s a shame because in the old days, when I played, you probably had six or seven goalkeepers in the state league who couldn’t represent their country, there wasn’t much in between them.”
In the event that both Schwarzer and Petkovic were unable to represent Australia at next year’s World Cup, that would leave the number one spot open to a variety of candidates, all talented but all lacking in experience, particularly on the world stage.
The likes of Reading’s Adam Federici (24) and Middlesbrough’s Brad Jones (27) have struggled to establish themselves in the first team of their respective clubs in the past, though the latter enjoyed more success following the departure of fellow Australian Mark Schwarzer last season.
However, Fraser says it is too late to start blooding another first-choice goalkeeper ahead of the 2010 World Cup, with only twelve months to go to the start of the tournament in South Africa and no competitive matches available in the lead-up.
Over the next four years though, the grooming of a successor to Schwarzer’s throne will be crucial, with a view to the 2014 Finals.
“It’s too late for this World Cup – it’s what we do over the next four years,” Fraser said.
“We’ve finally got a situation where we’re producing more good young goalkeepers and I’ve got some great ‘keepers coming through – but they’re five or seven years away from that sort of thing.”
Part of the grooming process will be allowing goalkeepers to move overseas at a young age, with the former Australia international deeming the A-League too short to effectively develop goalkeepers for the international stage.
He continued, “One of the things we’ve got to realize is, whilst they don’t want young kids to go overseas until they’re 18, I think with ‘keepers we should have 8 or 10 playing overseas at the top level if we want to have a good World Cup goalkeeper.
“You’ve got to get that experience of playing overseas in front of those big crowds week-in-week-out and vying for a position.
“We’re not going to have any problems packing the A-League with quality ‘keepers but we don’t play enough games. Overseas, the ‘keepers will be playing 50 or 60 games a year with top clubs.”
Chris Paraskevas, Goal.com
If you have an opinion on this topic email Alan at alan@nigoalkeeping.com Top of Page
What do you think about the iPod?
Ben Foster's iPod-watching raises the bar for Manchester United
Ben Foster saves the Jamie O'Hara's penalty after being shown his previous spot kicks on video during the break.
The sight of Ben Foster staring at an iPod shortly before yesterday’s penalty shoot-out might have sent Manchester United supporters into all kinds of anxieties. Was this really the time to be listening to Coldplay? Or watching a video of Shakira?
In fact, Foster was watching footage of Tottenham Hotspur’s penalty-takers, which had been prepared by Eric Steele, United’s goalkeeping coach — a level of research and preparation that deserved to be rewarded with the Carling Cup, particularly with Spurs understood not to have practised spot-kicks.
It is Steele who will have spotted that, last November playing for England Under-21s against the Czech Republic at Bramall Lane, O’Hara demonstrated his preferred penalty technique by hitting his shot just to the goalkeeper’s left — close enough that it was saved.
“I had been told that if O’Hara took a kick from the spot then I should stand up and be strong and that he would probably put the ball to my left,” Foster said. The evidence had been presented on video only seconds earlier and, sure enough, O’Hara put the ball exactly where Foster had been shown that he would. Give a medal to that man Steele.
Until yesterday, we had thought that Jens Lehmann, the Germany goalkeeper, had set a new level of conscientiousness when he slipped a piece of paper into his socks at the 2006 World Cup quarter-final against Argentina, listing how every opponent had taken spot-kicks throughout their career. United, not for the first time, have raised the bar.
“The iPod is an innovation of Eric’s, he brought it to the club when he joined us from Blackburn Rovers,” Foster said. “It’s an amazing tool to have, it means you can brush up straightaway.” While the Football League was surprised at the innovation, there are no rules about taking MP3 players on to the pitch during the interval — although no doubt some killjoy at Fifa or Uefa will now seek to intervene.
Foster won the man-of-the-match award. His save from O’Hara came on top of good stops from Aaron Lennon and Darren Bent, and an afternoon of assured handling. Inevitably, the question was asked about Foster’s prospects as a future England goalkeeper — and Sir Alex Ferguson was happy to answer, predicting a long international career for the player — but Foster’s past has taught us not to make too many assumptions.
This is a goalkeeper who has been on United’s books for more than 3½ years, and yet made only seven appearances, most of those in lesser cup games, playing patient understudy to Edwin van der Sar, United’s first-choice goalkeeper. And there had been oddities in Foster’s career even before Ferguson saw him playing for Wrexham in the LDV Vans Trophy final in 2005, the United manager ostensibly watching his son Darren but being so struck by the on-loan goalkeeper that he immediately paid out £1 million to Stoke City. Foster had been on Stoke’s books for four years and yet had never played for them, going out on loan to such backwaters as Tiverton Town, Stafford Rangers and Kidderminster Harriers.
“You get into the mindset where you’re thinking, ‘If Stoke can’t see enough quality in me, then why would anyone else?’ ” Foster admitted recently. He was a late developer and, at the age of 25, is still seeking to make it as a regular first-teamer in the Premier League, although Ferguson made plenty of encouraging noises yesterday. “He is a very strong character,” the United manager said. “He has to be to have come through two cruciate knee injuries.” Ferguson talked of signing Foster for “the next ten years”, which will be a delight to the player whose contract runs out in 16 months and wonders what the future holds. Further England honours should also await. Foster was capped once by Steve McClaren, in a friendly against Spain, and he has a fan in Fabio Capello.
The two met for the first time yesterday, when Foster walked past the England manager in the front row of the Royal Box. It will not be the last time they meet, but, first, Foster has to break into the United team.
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Safe hands: The top seven United shot stoppers
By Bob Mclean27th January 2009
Should Manchester United keeper Edwin van der Sar keep a clean sheet for 84 minutes tonight against West Brom, the Dutchman will enter the history books for breaking Chelsea counterpart Petr Cech’s Premier League shut-out record of 1,025 minutes, set in 2005.
With this in mind, Sportsmail has glanced through the history books, selecting the top seven custodians who have become part of Old Trafford folklore...
• DO YOU AGREE ?
7 Les Sealey
The late Les Sealey (right) celebrates United's 1991 Cup Winners' Cup winGiven the unenviable job of a last-minute call-up for an FA Cup Final... and emerging with great distinction as well as a winner's medal.
Scotland keeper Jim Leighton had been having a nightmare after following Alex Ferguson from Aberdeen to Old Trafford.
And his shattered confidence reached its nadir in the 1990 Final when United escaped with a 3-3 draw against Crystal Palace.
Fergie took drastic action: he axed Leighton and turned to Luton old boy Sealey.
He played a blinder, United won 1-0 and then offered his winner's medal to Leighton.
A year later he had another gong in his hand — a Cup-winners' Cup medal after United beat Barcelona in the Rotterdam final.
6 Ray Wood
The last line of defence as the Busby Babes were making the world sit up and take note.
He was the victim of one of the most brutal assaults ever on a football field, when Aston Villa's Peter McParland shoulder-charged him into unconsciousness. Wood work: The brilliant Ray Wood was the Busby Babes' last line of defence
In those pre-substitute days, the groggy Wood was patched up and courageously returned to play out the 1957 FA Cup Final on the wing despite having a broken jaw.
But for his injury that day, champions United would probably have been the first 20th Century club to win the Double.
5 Gary Bailey
The keeper as Dave Sexton attempted to end United's long wait without a title.
Although Ipswich born, Bailey grew up in South Africa and paid for his own flight to Manchester so he could engineer a trial in 1978.
He, and United, never looked back as he not only earned himself a contract but quickly established himself as the Old Trafford No 1.
He went on to hold that distinction for the next 10 seasons, during which the FA Cup was won in 1983 and 1985.
4 Alex Stepney
The first goalkeeper to win the European Cup for United, literally.
While the Wembley victory in 1968 will go down in history for the goals by Charlton, Best and Kidd, it was the save by Stepney, when he stood up in the dying moments to deny Eusebio as Benfica's Black Pearl homed in on goal, that kept United in the tie.
History boy: Alex Stepney became the first United 'keeper to lift the European Cup As a contemporary of Gordon Banks, he didn't get as much international recognition as he might have hoped, but for United fans he was very much No 1.
3 Harry Gregg
The Bravest of the Brave.
February 6, 1958, as his Busby Babe team-mates lay dead and dying on that runway at Munich, he thought nothing of his own safety as he battled back into the wreckage of the smouldering Britannia aircraft to rescue others.
He was no mean goalkeeper either — for United and Northern Ireland and a world-record purchase to boot — but at Old Trafford he will forever be revered for his heroism that snowy day 51 years ago.
2 Peter Schmeichel
Peter the Great, but not necessarily the greatest. Yes, he won the European Cup, and, yes, he was captain that unforgettable night in Barcelona.
Great Dane: Schmeichel is regarded as one United's finest ever shot-stoppers
But while he was No 1 as United were re-writing English football's record books in the Nineties, the Dane did ship goals....although, he always knew that being part of a team with attackers like Hughes, Cantona, Yorke, Cole, Beckham, Giggs, Scholes, etc, meant United would invariably score more than the toughest of opposition.
1 Edwin van der Sar
Not just that, his outstanding form since joining from Fulham in 2005 became the foundation on which Sir Alex Ferguson was able to build his third and arguably greatest Old Trafford team.
While champions United were last season's top scorers, they also boasted the meanest defence — and the Dutchman was key.
Now he's on the verge of setting a Premier League record — no other United keeper can claim that. Holland's most capped player with 130 international appearances, his CV also includes European Cup and UEFA Cup victories as an Ajax player.
Flying Dutchman: Edwin Van der Sar denies Nicolas Anelka from the spot to help United on their way to last year's Champions League final win over Chelsea
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Is Almunia good enough to play for England?
ARSENAL goalkeeper Manuel Almunia has not ruled out the option of perhaps playing for England one day - but admits Fabio Capello's men "do not need many changes".
The 31-year-old has not been capped by Spain, and so could eventually enter the reckoning for England - or indeed any of the other home nations - if he opted for UK citizenship through naturalisation after six years in the country.
However, given Almunia - who signed from Celta Vigo in July 2004 - would have to wait until 2010 before his application could be processed, that is something which the Spaniard does not have to concern himself with just yet.
"At the beginning it could not be serious because I could not imagine thinking about that when I first came here. But I feel better in this country at this club, and I say 'why not?'," Almunia told Arsenal TV Online.
"However, the time has not come yet and maybe in the next year there could be the possibility, so I could think about that."
Almunia added: "I would be happy (to play for England) if I were happy, my family and my people were happy and if there are more pluses than counters, then maybe I will take the decision.
"But it is a big thing to think about."
However, the Arsenal goalkeeper accepted things were looking good for a reborn England under Fabio Capello on the road to the World Cup in South Africa.
"England are in the right way now and are playing very well and at the moment they do not need many changes," he said.
"It is not good I am involved in these kind of stories very often.
"But if people are talking about you, that can be a good thing."
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Heurelho da Silva Gomes
Heurelho da Silva Gomes's thrills and spills a threat to Harry Redknapp's safe hands
Russell KempsonIt may seem churlish to dampen the euphoria at Tottenham Hotspur, with Harry “Houdini” Redknapp already having worked his magic since arriving at the club last weekend, but there are problems yet to be addressed. The form - or lack of - of Heurelho da Silva Gomes, the Brazil goalkeeper, is near the top of the pile.
At times this season, Gomes, 27, has been exceptional, ruling his penalty area with calm authority, catching crosses as if plucking sparrows from the sky, hurling the ball into the opposing half with the most prolific of throws. Some of his punches and reflex saves have been spectacular.
Few will forget the arcing leap that denied Steed Malbranque a winner for Tottenham against PSV Eindhoven, Gomes's former club, in the second leg of their Uefa Cup round-of-16 tie in March. It came in the last minute of extra time and forced a penalty shoot-out, in which Gomes also saved the spot-kick - albeit a woeful effort - from Jermaine Jenas that, had it been successful, would have won the match. PSV went through.
That night, Juande Ramos, the former Tottenham head coach, must have been impressed by Gomes, the 6ft 3in son of a farm worker who was once nurtured by Luiz Felipe Scolari, the Chelsea manager, in his Cruzeiro youth team. Ramos paid £7.8 million in June and Gomes exchanged the Netherlands for North London.
At other times this season, though, Gomes has appeared a liability, leaving himself open to the initial criticism of the PSV fans that Brazilians “should be on the field, not in the goal”.
He eventually won them over in his four years at the Philips Stadium, with sequences of 971 minutes, 956 minutes and 817 minutes without conceding a goal. And at least at PSV he had a robust, settled defence in front of him, one that helped the club to win the Dutch league four years in succession. It could not bear any relation to the mix-and-match back-four selections of Ramos, whose picks seemed to be increasingly random or dominated by the fitness of Ledley King.
Still, Gomes's displays have proved erratic. He allowed a tame shot from Ashley Young to squirm under his body in the 2-1 home defeat by Aston Villa last month; he tried to dribble past Fabio Quagliarella against Udinese, brought him down and conceded a penalty in the 2-0 Uefa Cup defeat in Italy a week ago.
Gomes is particularly vulnerable at set-pieces, treating walls of bodies as lumps of human flesh to be bulldozed through rather than circumnavigated carefully. He did not get near the ball for Arsenal's first goal, a Mikaël Silvestre header from a corner, in the dramatic 4-4 draw at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night.
Also in pursuit of the ball, in the 2-1 defeat away to Stoke City this month, Gomes clattered Vedran Corluka, his team-mate, first in the ribs then, minutes later, on the jaw. Corluka recovered, after oxygen, lengthy treatment and a visit to hospital, but Gomes persists with his aerial assaults.
Paul Robinson left White Hart Lane for Blackburn Rovers in the summer to rebuild his confidence. César Sánchez, formerly of Real Zaragoza and Gomes's understudy, has yet to play this season and, at 37, is not one for the future. Ben Foster, 25, if he can be signed on a loan from Manchester United, might be.
In 1973 Brian Clough described Jan Tomaszewski, the Poland goalkeeper, as “a clown”. Tomaszewski duly went on to, almost single-handedly, deny England a place in the 1974 World Cup finals. If Gomes can similarly defy his critics, there may yet be a place for him in the Redknapp revolution.
Big gloves to fill
Bill Brown (1959-66): Part of the 1961 team who did the league and FA Cup Double, the first club to do so in the 20th century.Pat Jennings (1964-77): 472 league appearances, scored goal with punt from hands that sailed over Alex Stepney, of Manchester United, in 1967 Charity Shield. Won 119 caps for Northern Ireland.
Ray Clemence (1981-88): Multi-medal winner with Liverpool before moving to White Hart Lane. In winning team in FA Cup final in 1982. Played in 240 league matches for Tottenham. Paul Robinson (2004-08): Made 137 league appearances. England and club career suffered when Gary Neville back-pass bobbled over foot into goal in Croatia.
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10 worst goalkeepers
October 30, 2008This is an article that appeared in the Times on Line news paper titled “The ten worst goalkeepers ever.” Do you agree with their choice of goalkeepers or who would you add of take off the hit list? Drop me an email at Alan@nigoalkeeping.com and let me know your thoughts on this article.
Inspired by Heurelho Gomes's run of error-strewn performances for Tottenham, Robert Dineen has compiled a list of the ten worst goalkeepers to grace England's top division. Feel free to suggest your nominations in the comment box below.
10. Paul Jones
Wales international who combined spells of consistency with lapses in concentration. Perhaps most memorable was an impersonation of falling timber while playing for Southampton in 2002 that allowed a shot from Sean Gregan to squirm under his body and into the goal. Almost as bad was a performance that led to a 5-1 defeat for Wales on his 50th international appearance, which he had marked by having that number shaven into his hair. Some thought he was trying to predict the result.
9. Dan Lewis
Another Welshman and one immortalised with a match-losing mistake for Arsenal in the 1927 FA Cup Final when a soft shot trickled under his body and richocheted off his elbow into the net, gifting Cardiff the trophy. Afterwards, Lewis claimed his new wool jersey was to blame, creating a tradition in which Arsenal keepers never wear a new jersey for an FA Cup Final.
8. Peter Enckelman
The former Aston Villa keeper has rehabilitated his career at Cardiff but will be forever defined for his criminal gaffe against Birmingham in 2002 when he allowed a throw-in from Olof Mellberg to roll under his foot and into the goal. One fan was so delighted that he ran on to the pitch to mock the Finn, a gesture for which he was jailed. Villa fans thought Enckelman deserved similar punishment.
7. Huerelho Gomes
The Brazilian has caught the eye (but little else) with a run of terrible displays for his new club. Weak on crosses and weak on the results of crosses, Gomes showed hints of his Hall of Shame potential by gifting goals to Stoke and Udinese, but confirmed it at the Emirates with a flapping attempt to deal with Mikael Silvestre's headed goal.
6. Bobby Mimms
Nervous, slight and overrated on his arrival to White Hart Lane, Mimms was the natural predecessor to Gomez. Sold to Blackburn after failing to dislodge the often unreliable Erik Thortsvedt in the Spurs first XI - no easy feat - the former England Under-21 international now coaches Paul Robinson at Blackburn. The mind boggles.
5. Roy Carroll
Northern Irishman who had frequent troubles between the sticks. In four years at Old Trafford, he made headlines only for an arthritic fumble that led to Pedro Mendes's disallowed "goal" from the halfway line and another that gifted Hernan Crespo a goal for AC Milan. Left United, West Ham and Rangers because they couldn't guarantee him first-team football.
4. Allen McKnight
Or to use a nickname coined by West Ham fans, Allen McKnightmare. Signed in 1988, the Northern Irishman played 35 games in his first season, one in the next and none in his last at Upton Park before he found his natural level at Aidrieonians. Remains a fixture on the online nominations for the worst players ever to don the claret and blue.
3. Gary Sprake
No DVD collection of goalkeeping bloopers is complete without an entry from the former Leeds No 1. Perhaps the worst came against Liverpool when he throw the ball into his own net though Elland Road fans still shudder at the memory of the 1970 FA Cup final when he allowed a weak shot from Peter Housemann to slip through his grasp, helping Chelsea to claim a 2-2 draw. They won the replay.
2. Ricardo
What is about Sir Alex Ferguson and cack-handed keepers? The Spaniard made only one first-team appearance in three season at Old Trafford - one spent on loan - but makes our list purely because he was third-choice behind Carroll.
1. Massimo Taibi
Italian who became known as the Blind Venetian in a career with Manchester United that lasted only four games. Chief among his howlers was one that allowed the tamest of efforts from Matthew Le Tisser to trickle under his frame. Taibi was last seen turning fans' stomachs in Serie B.
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A mate's view of Alan
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Gloves used by various goalkeepers
| PLAYER NAME | CLUB | GLOVE BRAND AND MODEL |
| Jason Brown | Blackburn | Sells Adhesion Ultra Wrap Aqua PRO (Flat palm) |
| Frank Fielding | Blackburn | Adidas Fingertip E6S |
| Paul Robinson | Blackburn | Sells Contour H20 Ultimate Roll Finger SMU (@ great-save.com from Dec 08) |
| Petr Cech | Chelsea | Adidas Response Pro E7S Orange (SMU Negative) |
| Henrique Hilario | Chelsea | Puma V Pro |
| Carlo Cudicini | Chelsea | Uhlsport Cerberus Roll |
| Tim Howard | Everton | Nike Tiempo Premier SGT |
| Ian Turner | Everton | Reusch Serie A III |
| John Ruddy | Everton | Puma King XL Gunn Cut |
| David Stockdale | Fulham | PRO GK Revolution Shadow |
| Pascal Zuberbuhler | Fulham | Uhlsport Ergonomic Absolutgrip SFX |
| Mark Schwarzer | Fulham | Uhlsport Cerberus Absolutgrip Moulded |
| Manuel Jose Reina | Liverpool | Adidas Response Pro E7S (SMU Negative) |
| Diego Cavalieri | Liverpool | Sells Super 4 d30 Negative or Roll |
| Joe Hart | Manchester City | Umbro SX Valor |
| Kasper Schmichel | Manchester City | Adidas Response Pro |
| Edwin Van Dar Sar | Manchester United | Adidas (Fingersave Backhand) (Negative cut smu) |
| Ben Foster | Manchester United | Sells Adhesion Ultra Wrap Aqua or Outlast Wrap |
| Brad Jones | Middsbrough | Nike T90 Spyne |
| Jason Steele | Middsbrough | Puma V Pro |
| Ross Tumbull | Middsbrough | Umbro SX Valor |
| Shay Given | Newcastle | Puma V Pro (Negative SMU) |
| Steve Harper | Newcastle | Adidas (Fingersave Backhand) (Negative cut smu) |
| Fraser Forster | Newcastle | Puma King XL Gunn Cut |
| Tim Krul | Newcastle | Sells Adhesion Ultra Wrap Aqua |
| David James | Portsmouth | HO Mega Pro |
| Jamie Ashdown | Portsmouth | Uhlsport Cerberus Absolutgrip Roll |
| Jordan Nicholas | Portsmouth | Sells Adhesion Ultra Wrap Aqua |
| Asmir Begovic | Portsmouth | Nike Mercual Vapor Grip 3 |
| Craig Gordon | Sunderland | Sells Adhesion Ultra Contact Evo |
| Darren Ward | Sunderland | Sells Adhesion Ultra Wrap Aqua |
| Trevor Carson | Sunderland | Selsport Wrappa Classic |
| Heurelho Gomes | Tottenham Hotspur | Uhlsport Cerberus Absolutgrip Moulded |
| César Sanchez | Tottenham Hotspur | Reusch Goaliator Pro G1 |
| Ben Alnwick | Tottenham Hotspur | Nike Gunn Cut |
| Robert Green | West Ham United | Sells Adhesion Ultra Wrap Aqua |
| Marek Stech | West Ham United | Nike Mercual Vapour Grip 3 |
| James Walker | West Ham United | WGK Assian Flat II |
| Chris Kirkland | Wigan Athletic | Adidas Fingertip E6S |
| Mike Pollitt | Wigan Athletic | Sells Super 4 D30 Roll |
| Carlo Nash | Wigan Athletic | Sells Adhesion Ultra Wrap Aqua |
| John Filan | Wigan Athletic | Selsport Wrappa Classic |
| Boaz Myhill | Hull City | Uhlsport Cerberus Absolutgrip Moulded |
| Matt Duke | Hull City | Selsport Absorb V2 |
| Steve Simonsen | Stoke City | Sells Adhesion Ultra Wrap Aqua |
| Scott Carson | West Brom | Adidas Fingertip E6S |
| Dean Kiely | West Brom | Sells Adhesion Ultra Wrap Aqua or Outlast Wrap |
| Michal Danek | West Brom | Umbro XGL 200 |
Emma Byrne: C'mon, take your best shot, boys
The Arsenal goalkeeper says women’s football may lack the glitz of the men’s game but it is catching up in terms of skill
Paul Croughton
Ask any footballer about their earliest memories of the game and nine times out of 10, you’ll get a lot of rosy-hued talk of kickabouts in the park. Emma Byrne is less nostalgic. The Arsenal Ladies goalkeeper recalls a childhood initiation that involved standing in goal and trying not to get hit in the face while her two elder brothers mimicked their footballing heroes in the back garden of their home in Leixlip, Co Kildare. 
Fortunately, it wasn’t long before the brothers tired of their game because, as sisters often do, Byrne spoilt it — after all, George Best never had his shots saved by a girl. The little sister quickly outpaced her brothers, shot up to 6ft by the time she reached her teens and was soon selected for the Ireland female under-16s.
She is now tending goal for the Irish national squad as well as the team that has dominated the Women’s Premier League ever since its inception in 1992. Arsenal Ladies have won the women’s Premier League title seven times in the past eight seasons. Or to put it another way, in all but one of the years Byrne, 29, has been with the club.
In the 2006-7 season, they did what no Premier League team, of either sex, has done before or since, and won all their League games, as well as claiming the Premier League, FA, League and Uefa Cups. At the time of going to press, Arsenal Ladies were top of the League (out of 12 teams), having won all seven of their matches since the start of the new season. Such success breeds an unusual problem.
“It’s harder to motivate yourself,” Byrne admits, “when you know you’re going to dominate teams and probably win by at least two goals.
“We got complacent, and Everton beat us last season in the League Cup final. That was a bit of a disaster. But we’re in the Uefa Cup again this season and we’re playing the team that knocked us out last year, so that’s the best kind of motivation.”
Football is the fastest growing participation sport among women in Britain. There are now 150,000 women registered to accredited teams, compared with just 20,000 a decade ago, according to the Football Association. Byrne insists the women’s game is catching up with the men’s where it matters. “At Arsenal the same tactics are used for the men and the women. Obviously the girls aren’t as strong and as quick as the men, but we have the same level of determination and commitment.
“I don’t think the women’s game will ever be at the same stage as the men’s in terms of profile, but we’re definitely getting better.”
The two games remain a million miles apart in terms of pay and lifestyle. While a top male Premier League player might earn £100,000 a week or more, Byrne is, strictly speaking, only semi-professional. To make ends meet, she works as a coach for Arsenal Ladies Academy, training younger players, and earns less than £30,000 a year.
She boosts her pay by working as an ambassador for Nike’s Here I Am campaign to encourage more girls to get into sport. All the Arsenal Ladies players get a flat-rate bonus for a win, “which wouldn’t buy a round if there were six of you”, she says. She lives in a two-bedroom house in the village of Shenley, Hertfordshire, which she describes as “small and cosy” — not adjectives you’d use to describe Beckingham Palace.
Things could be about to change. It’s testament to the huge worldwide growth of women’s football in recent years that Major League Soccer, the American football league, which includes Los Angeles Galaxy, David Beckham’s current team, has recently announced plans for a women’s professional league. The new league will kick off next spring and a number of players at Arsenal Ladies have been approached by clubs from Boston, Chicago and elsewhere, including Byrne.
“It’s very flattering, and it puts English football on the map, as they’re chasing the best players in the world, and they clearly think Arsenal are one of the best teams,” she says. “We haven’t even discussed contracts yet, but America’s a long way to go, and at the moment I’m happy here.”
Closer to home, the FA is considering holding the Women’s Premier League during the summer months from 2010. One of the major obstacles for the women’s game at the moment is that their games often clash with the men’s, and most football fans choose to watch the latter. “If I was still a kid, I know I would,” admits Byrne, although she is frequently met by a knee-high gaggle of girls wanting autographs as she leaves the pitch.
With long limbs and big, powerful hands, she’s an imposing presence between the posts. But off the pitch, Byrne insists she loves designer shoes as much as the next woman — “though my boyfriend [Marcus Bignot, who plays for Millwall] is shorter than me so I don’t get to wear high heels that much”.
“I can’t say we’re all exactly like Pamela Anderson,” she says, of her team-mates, laughing, “but the girls in the dressing room are really feminine. To be honest, sometimes they can be a bit too girlie in the tackles.”
The regime
DIET
For breakfast I’ll have cereal, usually Special K Red Berries, with wholemeal toast. I’m never hungry after my lunchtime gym session. I’ll have a strawberry Maximuscle protein shake, which is really sickly, or a protein bar, which tastes worse but at least is easier to get down. I have dinner at about 5pm, usually chicken, fish or pasta. We’re not allowed to drink alcohol during the week. I might have a glass of wine after the game on Sunday, but I generally save it for the end of the season.
TRAINING
Sundays are usually match days and I train from Monday to Saturday, as well as coaching younger players. I pay a lot of attention to core exercises — those that target the abdominal and back muscles and provide strength, stability and flexibility. We have a circuit training routine designed to work these muscle groups. We do each exercise for 45 seconds and the whole circuit takes about 4Å minutes to complete. We follow it with a 12-minute run, then start the circuit again.
Explosive power is also important to give force to your kicks and dives. “Yo-yo tests” can help. These involve alternating from jogging to sprinting between a set of cones.
I do about two hours in the gym every day, then the rest of my time is given to technical aspects of the game, such as what angle to dive, how to dominate the box. There’s a lot to get right.
Byrne's perfect penalty save
Observation is the key. Watch how the penalty taker places the ball — do they look in one direction for longer than another, and which foot do they use? “If the shooter is right-footed they favour down to my right, because they’re kicking across their body, generating more power,” says Byrne. “The way their hips turn on the run-up can also give away the direction they’re going to aim in.”
REDUCE THE TARGET AREA
“The first thing to remember is that the person taking the penalty is much more nervous than you,” says Byrne. “That should work to your advantage.” Stand tall and spread your arms out wide to make the goal look smaller. Distracting movements can also help break the shooter’s concentration. “Players sometimes look at the opposite post to the one their aiming for but, with experience, you can usually tell when they’re bluffing.”
THE DIVE
The rules state that the goalkeeper must wait until the ball is kicked before moving but most referees will ignore a small step. The aim is to dive just before the kick is taken. Commit fully to your chosen direction and cover as much ground as you can to avoid the shot sneaking in. “The only way they should score is if they put it in the corner,” says Byrne, “because my reach is quite long.”
STRONG HANDS
“By diving slightly forward of the goal, you have more chance of turning the ball round the post. Use both hands and push the ball as far away as possible.” If you succeed in saving the penalty, you need to get back on your feet as quickly as possible because the shot could be rebounded.
Kit bag
ADIDAS ABSOLADO BOOT £40 www.adidas.com/football
This is a cut-down version of Adidas’s popular Predator boot, but slimmer and for women. See our recent group test of football boots at tinyurl.com/5yxzfu
PUMA V-KONSTRUKT GLOVES £50 www.pumafootball.com
Good goalkeeping gloves reduce the risk of hand injury and can prevent you spilling that crucial cross. You should always try them for fit and grip before buying. Most gloves have latex palms and these Pumas also have removable spines in the fingers and thumb — for protection from fierce shots.
REUSCH ERGO KEVLAR GK PANT £40 www.reusch.com
Goalkeepers’ training bottoms contain padding on the hips and knees for protection while practising dives. This padding is especially important at the start of the season, when the ground is likely to be particularly hard. Reusch specialises in goalkeeping equipment and these durable Kevlar trousers should certainly last the season
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Statistical Analysis of Penalty Shoot-outs
June 28, 2008 by Steve Amoia for Keeper Skool
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I was reading an interesting article in La Gazzetta dello Sport. They quoted a British Professor, Jon Billsbury of the Open University, about a web site that he has created for the specific purpose to study penalty kick shoot-outs. Since we have already seen 3 out of the 4 semi-final games at Euro 2008 determined by the shoot-out, perhaps we can learn more about the historical statistics during such events.
Professor Billsbury theorizes that lesser known players do better in the pressure cooker of penalty shoot-outs.
“I giovani che hanno meno timori e che non devono vivere sotto la continua attenzione della stampa – spiega il professore – sono staticamente più bravi a segnare un rigore rispetto ai campioni. Non a caso, alcuni dei più importanti tiri dal dischetto della storia del calcio sono stati sbagliati proprio dai giocatori considerati i migliori delle loro squadre.
Pensiamo a Roberto Baggio nella finale mondiale del 1994, o a Beckham contro la Turchia e il Portogallo, per non parlare di Andriy Shevchenko nella finale di Champions League contro il Liverpool”.
“The younger players have less fear and don’t have to live under the constant scrutiny of the press, explains the professor, they are statistically better to score a penalty in respect to greater champions. For example, some of the most important penalty kicks in the history of world football have been missed by players considered the best on their teams. We think of Roberto Baggio in the World Cup final of 1994, or of Beckham against Turkey and Portugal, not to mention Andriy Shevchenko in the Champions League Final against Liverpool.” Italian translation by Steve Amoia.
Source: La Gazzetta dello Sport, 25 June 2008.
Country Data by Professor Billsbury
It probably will not surprise us that Germany and Argentina are at the top of the table. Here are the premier teams in terms of winning records at shoot-outs who have played in a World Cup final.
For a little bit of history, Uruguay won the first World Cup in 1930, and again in 1950. Holland lost two finals in a row: 1974 and 1978. Sweden lost to Brazil in 1958. Argentina won in 1978 and 1986. England won in 1966. Italy won in 1934, 1938, 1982, and 2006. West Germany won in 1954, 1974, and 1990. Brazil won in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, and 2002. France won in 1998. As you can see, the number of teams who have won the World Cup is a very elite group.
- Argentina: 73%.
- Germany/West Germany: 71%.
- Brazil: 64%.
- France: 50%.
- Sweden: 50%
- Uruguay: 43%
- Italy: 33%.
- The Netherlands: 20%.
- England: 17%.
Penalty Conversion Rates
Let’s take a look at the actual conversion rates for a few teams. I will begin with the remaining 4 sides at Euro 2008:
- Germany: 85%.
- Russia: n/a.
- Spain: 74%
- Turkey: n/a.
- Argentina: 80%.
- Australia: 80%.
- Brazil: 83%.
- Czech Republic: 100%.
- Czechoslovakia: 100%.
- England: 68%
- France: 84%.
- Iraq: 91%.
- Italy: 72%.
- Ivory Coast: 83%.
- Mexico: 64%.
- Namibia: 88%.
- Romania: 73%.
- Saudi Arabia: 87%.
- Uruguay: 84%.
- USA: 70%.
To see the full table, please click here. http://penaltyshootouts.co.uk/countries.html
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Ben Foster
By Martin Sanders • Jul 9th, 2008 • Category: Interviews, Keeper News
Our Pre Season features continue today with another interview, today we have the chance to chat with the Premiership and Champions League winners Manchester United’s very own Ben Foster.
PROFILE
Ben started his football career at Racing Club Warwick in 2000. He spent a season there before he joined Stoke City.
During his time at Stoke, Foster had loan spells at Tiverton Town, Bristol City, Stafford Rangers, Kidderminster Harriers and Wrexham. Foster sustained a cruciate knee ligament injury in June 2003 while playing tennis, this sidelined him for a period of six months. Ben was spotted by Alex Ferguson, playing for Wrexham, on loan from Stoke, when the United manager was watching his son, Darren, in the LDV Vans Trophy Final in 2005, which Wrexham won. Manchester United had been struggling for many years to replace goalkeeping legend Peter Schmeichel, and Ferguson decided to move for the young Foster - paying £1 million. Signing with Sells Golakeeper Products while on loan at Watford.
He joined Manchester United from Stoke City on 19 July 2005. Between 2005 and 2007, he was on loan to Watford. Watford manager Aidy Boothroyd has claimed that “he’s better than current Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar” and believes that “he is going to be the best goalkeeper in the world.” Manchester United manager Ferguson has suggested that Foster will succeed Edwin van der Sar as first-choice keeper at United and should eventually replace Paul Robinson as “England’s next goalkeeper.” At this stage Sells Goalkeeper Products signed a 3 year deal with the United stopper who displayed his loyalty to one of his sponsors that have been with him since he played at Stoke even in the face of big money offers from Nike and Adidas.
Sells Adhesion Ultra Wrap Aqua as used by the United stopper
Foster had an impressive season at Watford, attracting plaudits from opponents and commentators. His long goal-kick was a particular asset for Watford as many of the team’s goals came via so called ‘route one’ football, with a long clearance from Foster collected by strikers Marlon King and Darius Henderson in promising positions. His imposing stature, confidence at set-pieces and excellent shot-stopping ability also stood out in what was his first full professional season. Foster helped Watford reach the Premier League by beating Leeds United 3-0 in the Championship play-off final.
On 10 August 2006, Foster re-signed on loan for Watford after Manchester United secured the services of Polish goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak on loan. Foster remained at Vicarage Road for the entire 2006-07 season as United had no option to recall him.
Then in June 2007, it was announced that Foster would undergo surgery on a cruciate ligament injury in his right knee. He returned to light training towards the end of 2007, before moving on to a more rigorous regime in mid-January 2008 and made a comeback in a reserves game against Middlesbrough on the 6th March 2008, Foster made his debut for Manchester United on 15 March 2008 against Derby County, as Van der Sar was injured and Kuszczak was suspended, having been sent off against Portsmouth in the FA Cup quarter final the previous Saturday. United won the game 1-0, with Foster making two crucial saves en route to keeping a clean sheet.
| Making his 1st England start. |
England
2006, Foster was named on the stand-by list for England’s 2006 World Cup squad, because of Robert Green’s injury in a “B” international against Belarus. After Foster re-signed on loan for Watford, he was called up to Steve McClaren’s first England squad as one of three goalkeepers for the friendly against Greece. Since his first call-up but prior to his injury, Foster was named in every England squad, and made his England debut in the 1-0 defeat against Spain on 7 February 2007.
Now Pre Season is well under way I was kindly given the chance by Sells’s Dave Baxter put some question to undoubtedly one of the best up and coming keepers in the Premiership.
Dave Baxter is the head of Sells Product Development and work’s very closely with the Sells pro keepers in producing keeper products.
At this point we here at great-save.com would like to take this chance to thank Dave set us this chance to talk to the Manchester United keeper.
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| Wearing the new Sells Total Contact Exosphere Guard featuring Adhesion H2O latex |
Q&A
| Ben, as a goalkeeper how do you find pre season? are you one that dreads going back to the training ground? |
| I have always been a person that has dreaded pre pre season training, the training sessions are usually a lot higher intensity and involve a lot more running which goalkeepers are notoriously bad at and I’m no exception! |
| At Manchester United will Sir Alex and his coaching team make the keepers at the club do the same fitness work as the outfield players? Running, sprinting etc with the squad? |
| The keepers have a different programme to the other players as keepers require a different type of fitness. Keepers need to be more explosive and quick for a shorter time and is not so important to be able to run for hours on end so we usually work with the goalkeeper coach for maybe an hour, then join in with the lads where we’ll have six a sides, shooting etc and then we usually finish with a bit of running. |
| As a keeper what should I work on most during the pre season weeks? |
| Pre season is a great chance to work on mainly leg muscle strength and general fitness, and due to the lack of games is a great time to start trying new techniques in training where it doesn’t matter so much if you get it wrong. |
| I understand it is important as a goalkeeper to eat the right things to maintain a good level of energy and strength, however I need some advice on what professional keepers eat during the week and things they avoid would be great? |
| As a lover of food and a big lad, I always seem to be hungry at any given time of the day! Through working with the nutritionist at United, we have a designed eating plan that through testing works for me. For a pre season training day my general day would go like this: Breakfast I will have a large bowl of cereal like fruit and fibre. Lunch at about 1.30 I will have another large plate of food which normally consists of 1/3 salad, 1/3 vegetables and 1/3 meat or fish, if that sees me through to dinner time (6.30) then great but if I need a snack then I’ll have some fruit but for dinner I’ll try and eat something similar to lunch but different foods. After 7 I clock I will not eat anything else as your body’s metabolism slows down after that time and you burn calories at a much slower rate so if I feel peckish I'll just have a glass of milk. I have also started calorie counting foods that I eat - you wouldn’t believe the amount of calories in some things! |
| What sort of fitness work have you been doing before pre season or do you have a complete rest? |
| I always have 2 weeks off to give the body a chance to recover from the past season at which point I will start to do light training, jogging, cycling and weights three times a week. |
| How much emphasis does the Manchester United coaching team place on video technology replaying old games and studying the next opposition during the season? |
| Video analysis plays a big part in our preparation for our next games and also analysis for games that we have already played. Usually on a Friday before a game we will have about an hour video session where we look at all the strengths’ and weaknesses of our opposition and try to come up with a game plan, the video also shows good things and things that need improving on from our last game. |
| At United how many times a week would you train? |
| If there is a week where there isn’t a midweek game then we will normally do a warm down on the Sunday after the game then have Monday off and then train everyday from then on in preparation for the Saturday’s game - obviously the earlier in the week it is the harder the training will be and toward the end of the week training is very light in preparation for the game. |
| As a keeper do you spend much time in the gym working with weights? If so what should I be working on as a keeper when I visit my local gym? |
| The gym is very important for me, as I have had knee problems in the past it is essential that I work at least 4 sessions per week doing leg exercises’ like squats and lunges to keep my legs strong,, also at the end of 3 of the sessions I will also do ab work and core work. |
| Working with Edwin Van Der Sar must be great? What is he like to work with? Does he help you with your game? |
| Edwin is a great keeper to learn from, he’s got so much experience that you can’t fail to pick up pointers that can improve your game. |
| This is a big season for you after missing most of last season, do you think you will go out on loan or will you be staying at United to fight for the number one jersey? |
| I’m fully committed to staying at United now and fighting for the number 1 jersey, I know it’s going to be my toughest season to date as we have such quality in the goalkeeping department but I’m fully fit now and raring to go. |
| Who is the best player in training at United? I bet it has been a great feeling to be on the same field as Ronaldo? |
| There are a few players that it’s a treat to train with day in day out but the person who I like watching in training is Paul Scholes. He’s the calmest player in any given situation and is still one of the greatest strikers of a ball I have ever seen and isn’t afraid to try his luck in training for 40 - 50 yards sometimes! |
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Goalkeeping Training
Future requirements:
If you would be interested in a goalkeeping coaching school during the school holidays would you please send an email to Alan@nigoalkeeping.com with your name, age, experience and contact details.
If there is sufficient interest I will get back to you with a date, time and a venue.
Alan
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Glove Story
Alan Hodgkinson began his cap career alongside Stanley Matthews and ended it after a bust-up with Berti Vogts. But the former Scotland goalkeeping coach's appetite for the game is undiminished.
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| Alan Hodgkinson coaching Jim Leighton Scotland |
Published Date: 23 March 2008
By Phil Shaw
FOOTBALL autobiographies are two a penny, often ghosted on behalf of callow youths in search of another fast buck. Alan Hodgkinson is in his sixth decade as a goalkeeper and coach – an extraordinary career that pitted him against Ronnie Simpson, tamed the tearaway in Andy Goram and influenced the early development of Craig Gordon – yet all he has so far is a working title.
But what a title: From Pig's Bladder To Buckingham Palace encapsulates what Hodgkinson calls his "fantastic journey" from booting a crude substitute ball around as a boy in a South Yorkshire mining community in the 1940s to the award of an MBE in the recent New Year's Honours. Reflecting on service with both England and Scotland – he was warmly welcomed as an Englishman in the camp 21 years before Terry Butcher became George Burley's No.2 – he cannot resist adding the subtitle Via Wembley and Hampden.
There has been no time for books. Hodgkinson's work ethic was typified by his appearance on the practice pitch with Scotland's keepers in freezing Moscow, weeks after a quadruple heart bypass in 1995. In August, he will turn 72, or "39 plus VAT" as he puts it, and the landmark should find him still working full-time with Oxford United's keepers as they attempt to regain Football League status.
In the course of this passionate glove affair, "Hodgy" missed only 14 matches in 17 years for Sheffield United after a winning debut at just 18 when Simpson, later of Celtic's Lisbon Lions, was in Newcastle's goal. He was 20 and playing in the old Second Division when he won his first cap, against Scotland in 1957. Nowadays he is arguably best known for his specialised work under Andy Roxburgh and Craig Brown for Scotland, Walter Smith at Rangers and Alex Ferguson with Manchester United.
The list might have included subsequent Scotland managers but for a falling out with Berti Vogts, and when Scotland play Croatia on Wednesday, Hodgkinson will take a keen interest in the keeper(s) now under the supervision of Jim Stewart. A framed picture in his home shows him with a teenaged Gordon on a coaching course. However, he believes Sunderland's £9m buy from Hearts is still adjusting to the intensity of the Premier League.
"It's not the easiest place for a keeper," argues Hodgkinson. "An error of judgment is punished quicker than in any league in the world. Craig has undoubted potential but his decision-making isn't always 100%.
"International football is different again. When I worked for Scotland we played San Marino on Saturday, when I could have played, and Croatia in Zagreb on Wednesday. Maintaining concentration levels between the two is vital. That's been a problem for Paul Robinson and Scott Carson with England. Carson played in Austria and didn't have a shot to save. Suddenly he's facing Croatia and in the first few minutes – Bang! Goal!"
Hodgkinson helped in the formative years of another Edinburgh-born No.1, Allan McGregor, who could gain his second cap against the Croats. "He'd just joined Rangers from school and Dick Advocaat said, 'Bring him to work with the first team'. You always worry about that because at that age their bones aren't fully developed.
"Allan got in the way of a typical Jorg Albertz shot and suffered a broken scaphoid, a little wrist bone like a crisp. Goalies rarely recover from that but I worked on him after the physios finished with him. I'm delighted with the way he has come back."
McGregor's injury had echoes of when Hodgkinson saved a brutal Peter Lorimer free-kick for Sheffield United against Leeds. "I had to come off," he says, flexing the finger as if not finishing the game still rankles. "The doctor couldn't re-set the bone to sit on the knuckle until after the match. But I was back the next week."
Bravery has long been the trademark of his first profession. As Britain's original goalkeeping coach, Hodgkinson's mission has been to instil technique to complement the craziness; the coaching he never had.
"That day against Scotland at Wembley, it was me that was nervous and unprepared. From the kick-off, a pass to Stan Matthews was intercepted and Tommy Ring (of Clyde) scored before I'd touched it. I've watched the video and I should've saved it."
By full-time, though, Tommy Younger was the rueful one, England winning 2-1. Hodgkinson rated the late Hibernian man highly and recalls other high-level Scottish contemporaries, including Bill Brown (Tottenham), Tommy Lawrence (Liverpool), Adam Blacklaw (Burnley) and Lawrie Leslie (West Ham).
A change in the perception of net-minding skills north of the border started, Hodgkinson believes, in 1961 after England trounced Scotland 9-3 and Celtic's Frank Haffey suffered a traumatic afternoon. Stewart Kennedy, of Rangers, endured another calamitous day in a 5-1 rout by the auld enemy in '75, and TV cemented the "joke" image.
"Jimmy Greaves poked fun at mistakes by Scottish goalies on Saint & Greavsie. It was unfair. When I was offered the chance to become Scotland's goalkeeping coach in '86 I decided I'd like the challenge of improving that reputation."
Hodgkinson prepared Scotland keepers, at various levels, in around 200 internationals, and speaks admiringly of Campbell Money, Jim Will, Henry Smith, Alan Main, Mark Brown and Neil Sullivan. Pressed to nominate the best, however, he instantly cites Andy Goram.
"Joe Royle asked if I'd work with a lad at Oldham he said was sensational. Goram got injured, but I went to watch his comeback at Coventry reserves. Joe tapped me on the shoulder, saying 'This kid's brilliant, you'll see'. He conceded eight goals – seven and a half were his fault – and Joe was saying, 'He's not normally like this, honestly'.
"The next season I went to work with him on a spare day. We were doing a repetition exercise when suddenly his face dropped and he kicked the ball a long way in a huff. I told him to fetch it, running there and back. Either that or go back to the dressing-room. He knew then I was in charge and we worked well together after that.
"Goram had raw talent, plus amazing presence for a smaller keeper. Once we worked on his technique – positioning, decision-making, handling – he became very hard to beat. Certain keepers got more caps, but I rate him the best Scotland have had. Now he's coaching at Clyde and calls me his guru! He rang me and said, 'How on earth are you kicking footballs at your age?' My keeper at Oxford, Billy Turley, reckons I'm the best half-volleyer in the world. I told Andy I look after my body and said, 'Why, what's up?' He said, 'Oh, Hodgy, my knees and legs are sore'."
As a player, the highlight of Hodgkinson's career was fulfilling a boyhood promise to his parents that he would play for England. Since becoming a coach, a plan devised to feed his family after losing his job as Gillingham's assistant manager, two World Cups and two European Championships provide the fondest memories.
The opening fixture of France 98, against Brazil in Paris, saw the one-time players' union activist don a kilt in solidarity with the Scotland squad after the SFA insisted on suits. "You should have seen their faces when we all appeared wearing the full regalia! The only guy that didn't wear one was Craig Brown, who said his knees were too knobbly."
After the finals the Scots went to Buckingham Palace to meet the Queen. "She said to me, 'But you're not a Scotchman'. I said, 'No ma'am, I'm English'. She asked who I supported when the countries met. 'Whoever's paying my wages, ma'am,' I replied. 'That's a good answer', she said."
The parting with Scotland came after Vogts informed the media that Hodgkinson had led Rab Douglas to think he was to replace Sullivan in the second half of a 5-0 defeat by France in 2002 (he stayed on the bench, missing the birth of his child while in Paris). "Vogts told him that, not me. I wrote to him to say it was a disgrace. He never replied."
Bitterness gives way to bonhomie as Hodgkinson recalls the "wonderful coaches and managers" he encountered during his Scottish sojourn. "There was always sneering about the 'Largs mafia'. It was supposedly their fault Scotland didn't do better. Yet it was hard-working people like Walter Smith, Alex Smith, Jocky Scott, Dick Campbell and Ronnie Lowrie who raised standards. I was humbled to work with them.
"Many of them, such as Walter, Craig, Andy Goram and (SFA physio) Hugh Allan, wrote congratulating me on my MBE, which I regard as an honour for the goalkeeping industry. But I never had any acknowledgement from the SFA. It must be in the post."
Posts of a different kind will remain central to Hodgkinson's life for the foreseeable future; the memoir will have to wait.
"Longevity is enjoying what you do," he says. "The day I can't beat my goalies from 25 yards, I'll pack in. For now, I'll carry on as enthusiastically as I did as a teenager."
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I’m a keeper, so no wonder I’m misunderstood
By Martin Sanders • May 15th, 2008 • Category: Keeper News
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These were the words of Arsenal’s Jens Lehmann as he makes his exit from North London yesterday.
Jens Lehmann is not totally convinced by the claim that England once produced the best goalkeepers in the world. “Every country thinks that,” he says. “The Germans think that, the Spanish think that and the Italians are also very proud of their keepers.”
But the ex Arsenal stopper appreciates the concern generated by the fact that only six of the 20 Barclays Premier League clubs were willing to put their faith in an English number one last season and, what’s more, he has a theory.
“Sometimes goalkeepers over here are not going to school long enough,” he explains.
“When you are a goalkeeper you must hold your concentration level very high throughout 90 minutes, sometimes 120, sometimes 150. The best way to learn that is at school with academic focus on tasks. When you leave school at 16 you don’t have it, you lose it.
“That’s probably why the foreign goalkeepers are coming over. I know some of them and they are bright people, like Petr Cech and Edwin Van Der Sar.”
Lehmann who is 38 is leaving Arsenal after five years at the club. He has been working at the club’s training ground this week, staying sharp before reporting to Germany’s training camp in Spain on Monday for Euro 2008.
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“You have good goalkeepers, like David James, and Joe Hart is quite promising,” admits Lehmann, who says English keepers have been slow to adjust to their role in the modern game.
“I talk to our physio Gary Lewin, who was a goalkeeper at Arsenal, and he says he was brought up never to come off his line because that’s not your area. That’s the first massive mistake you can make.
“When I first came here, I came off my line for crosses and long balls. I was clearing them sometimes 40 yards in front of the goal. I helped my defenders and the whole team because it means they can play higher up the pitch.
“The bottom line is that most people don’t really understand what a good goalkeeper is — even coaches. Everybody thinks, ‘Wow this guy is making great saves’, but as a goalkeeper you think, ‘This guy is really good but this guy, well, you never need to fear competition from him’.”
Lehmann knows the secret, he insists, but declines to share it. He is keeping it to himself while he considers a career in coaching, although he has no desire to be a specialist goalkeeping coach.
“After playing for 20 years, it would ruin my body. It’s the kicking, kicking, kicking. As a normal coach it’s mental pressure, mental demands.”
His interest in coaching has developed during a season when he has watched football from a different angle.
Ousted from the Arsenal team this season by Manuel Almunia in August, his appearances have been restricted. But from the bench he has watched his team mates and studied Arsene Wenger, a manager he considers to be among the “greats”.
“I’ve learned a lot on the sidelines — about the boss making his decisions, how you feel as a sub and the mentality of players who come on and make a difference,” says Lehmann.
Having seen him build a reputation as an awkward man to manage, it’s easy to smile at the prospect of Lehmann the manager, but he rejects any suggestion that he is too selfabsorbed to nurture others.
“As a goalkeeper you can’t be selfish. You are the guy who has to throw his body against the ball because somebody else made a mistake 30 yards in front of you.”
When Lehmann arrived from Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal went through his first season unbeaten. They won the FA Cup and he helped the Gunners to the Champions League Final with a penalty save in the last seconds of the semi-final.
“Football is about entertainment. If you don’t entertain, people don’t want to see you. But the most important thing is to entertain by winning.”
He remains a popular figure and will be missed there. Lehmann says: “During the years there have been some things where I didn’t agree with his (Wenger’s) opinion. That’s why I’m not easy, because I questioned him about some decisions.
“When he left me out for example. When you make a decision you do not want to hear the player and you don’t want him talking in the press. But sometimes it doesn’t work like that.
I just can’t sit there for a whole year. The German press is on me, the English press is on me.”
Almunia went on his summer break this week and Lehmann says the pair were able to patch up some of their differences.
Lehmann says: “I told him he should never take anything personally and that somehow he will realise he will benefit from that competition between me and him because it made him better.
“I realised this myself when I was No 2 with the German national team and Oliver Kahn was in front of me. You make a decision to compete with the guy and you push every day and that makes you better.
“That is basically what I told him and we’re OK now. From my point of view, it’s over. If I see him next season somewhere, I can always come to him and shake his hand and wish him all the best. I respect him. You will have to ask him what he thinks.”
Jens Lehmann was talking to the Daily Mail for more go to www.dailymail.co.uk