The lesser spotted English goalkeeper

England’s second choice keeper – John Ruddy

Of the other candidates for the job, Scott Carson is playing for Wigan in the Championship and Ben Foster is struggling to get into the first team at West Brom. Now don’t misunderstand me I am not saying that playing Championship level football should preclude you from representing your country but there cannot be many countries who have reached the latter stages of a world competition with their first choice goalkeeper not playing top division football anywhere in the world. As the goalkeeping position is considered to be so crucial, can you risk such an inexperienced player, where you may be able to dispense such a player elsewhere on the pitch?

Is it time to give Ruddy and Stockdale more of a run in the national side? What if Manchester City decide they need to upgrade Hart in order to win the trophies they desire? Where else would he go? It would be a further nail in the coffin of the remarkable English goalkeeping heritage if the first choice for the national side was playing reserve team football, and surely English football would have reached a new low if their number one choice played in front of more people in places such as Moldova, Albania and Bosnia than he did at club level.

In many other sports, teams have often been guilty of hanging onto stars too long and neglecting the importance of planning for their eventual retirement, but in English football can this accusation really be labelled at its treatment of the goalkeeper? After Clemence retired in 1984 Peter Shilton was the number one choice, almost unopposed, up to his own retirement after Italia ’90. His replacement was Chris Woods, who first came to prominence when as an 18-year old he was Man of the Match in the 1978 League Cup Final standing in for Shilton at Nottingham Forest.

By 1990 he was winning trophies with Rangers. Soon he was under pressure from David Seaman although it was Nigel Martyn who got the reserve goalkeeper place at Euro ’92. By 1996 Seaman was England’s first choice and remained so up to World Cup 2002. But he was accompanied by players such as Martyn, David James, Ian Walker, Richard Wright and Tim Flowers. Seaman played his last game for England in 2002 and then it was the turn of David James, who himself had waited 10 years for his time in the spotlight. James was then succeeded by Paul Robinson who was now at Tottenham after making an impact at Leeds United. It was at this point things started to unravel for the English keeper.

At the time the cupboard seemed just as well stocked as before with emerging talents such as Chris Kirkland and Scott Carson coming to the fore. It was Carson who replaced Kirkland at Liverpool in January 2005 but the arrival of Pepe Reina in July 2005 signalled the end for him at Anfield. This is where English keepers needed to negotiate loan deals to try and maintain first team football and still be in the reckoning for England selection. During the fateful Euro 2008 qualifying campaign England’s keepers made the headlines for howlers during crucial matches against Croatia; Paul Robinson in Maksimir and Carson at Wembley. By the time Fabio Capello took over he reverted to David James with Robert Green emerging as a possible successor.

Green’s own mistake in the opening game of World Cup 2010 lead to Capello losing confidence in him and James was again called upon. Hart has taken over ever since and looks as accomplished as many keepers down the years but mistakes for goalkeepers these days tend to be focused on like never before. Ben Foster emerged as another good candidate but he has taken ‘indefinite leave’ of being available for selection by his country and as he is struggling to force a first team spot at West Brom, would seem unwilling to fulfill his international potential.

As I have just said, mistakes by goalkeepers seem to be highlighted so much more these days. The recent focus on Hart ignores mistakes made by other players on the pitch. In stark contrast to the riches bestowed upon strikers, goalkeepers only need to make one mistake for their whole presence to come under scrutiny. If performance-related pay was the norm for footballers there seems little doubt goalkeepers could be amongst the highest earners in the team.

What gets forgotten when a keeper doesn’t quite save a shot in the way the beer-swilling, pie-eating, armchair fan thinks he should, is that further back during the move a defender was out of position or a midfielder pulled out of a challenge he should have made. But it is the keeper who gets it in the neck. Go back through the archives and you’ll find mistakes made by Clemence, Shilton and Seaman, but I guess that was back in a time when the pursuit of perfection in football was less prevalent.

So where are the opportunities for English goalkeepers? In the most recent Euro U21 tournament, Jack Butland was joined in the squad by Declan Rudd (Preston) and Jason Steele (Middlesbro’). Whether any of these go on to become the number one for their country remains to be seen, but one thing seems certain is both Rudd and Steele may need to up the standard of the football they’re playing.

Norwich would seem to hold the key to the England keeper as Ruddy is pushing to replace Hart at international level and Declan Rudd is on contract at Norwich, but currently loaned out at Preston. Ironically, Rudd’s first appearance for Norwich came when he replaced Fraser Forster, who himself was on loan at the club, in 2009. But that could have something to do with the fact the Norwich manager at the time was Bryan Gunn, who was Norwich’s first choice keeper in both 1986 and 1992.