Guest Post by John Bayfield
Some countries are known for producing quality things, Switzerland it’s watches, Italy it’s cars. British football was always renowned for the general quality of its goalkeepers – Peter Shilton
Imagine rushing off your goal line when some of the other 21 players on the pitch are coming towards your direction at speed. Or diving into a flurry of studded boots as you try to get at least one of your gloved paws on that round object bouncing around like a pinball, not far from your goal. And the time honoured practice of performing the noble art of reaching down to pick the ball out of the net for the umpteenth time. Why would any reasonable human being want to be a goalkeeper? Brave? Mad? A clown? All three tick the boxes. Many an outfield player chuckles at the idea of trying this specialist position mainly during training sessions. ‘Not really that difficult is it’ they say after leaping around the grass during a light hearted five a side. But as we know it is hero one minute, villain the next. Outfielders can get away with mistakes a lot easier than a number 1, 13, 22 or whatever number you can fit on a keepers back. More than a few times we have heard a manager saying that he needs to rebuild from the back first. A decent well organised back four with someone behind them that they and the rest of us can trust to hold the fort as and when needed.
Ah, Herr Trautmann, I remember you. Have you still got that pain in the neck? – HRH Queen Elizabeth II shares a joke with Bert Trautmann when bestowing on him an honorary OBE in 2005.
Bert Trautmann summed up a goalkeepers bravery or madness whilst playing on with a broken neck in the FA Cup final of 1956 for nearly twenty minutes. Like other clubs West Ham have had a varied standard of custodians between the posts to cheer and jeer from the stands. After Lawrie Leslie and Alan Dickie took us into the early sixties, Jim Standen became the mainstay as number one for four seasons from 1962. He was a vital cog in the claret and blue machine that won the FA Cup in 1964 and the Cup Winners Cup in 1965.
Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images
Standen was a steady keeper, one that brought confidence to the side in front of him and commanded his box with authority. Whoever played in front of Jim knew that when he shouted ‘keepers ball’ they should get out of the way. 178 West Ham appearances tells you he wasn’t just an average stopper. And to top it off he also played first class cricket for Worcestershire as well. Well versed in the catching department.
As a goalkeeper, you can’t come off the bench for 10 minutes and prove your worth – it’s either you’re in or you’re out – Joe Hart on life as a reserve goalkeeper.
Colin Mackleworth got only three games when Standen was injured including a 6-1 home defeat to Manchester United in 1967.Bobby Ferguson became the main keeper after Standen departed that same year. Peter Grotier and Steve De’ath were the other stoppers on our books during Fergusons early years. At the time the scotsman was signed, it was a world record fee for a goalkeeper, £65,000 from Kilmarnock. Not our clubs main target though as Ron Greenwood had hoped to sign Gordon Banks from Leicester City but that never happened. If only…..
Ferguson, like Standen, gave a real presence to his defence. It showed how much he was thought of by Greenwood as he was first choice for the best part of six years. Ferguson amassed 276 games which speaks volumes itself for any player at one club. Even when in 1973 an upcoming youngster called Mervyn Day made his way into the first team, Ferguson stayed loyal to Upton Park and filled in when Day was unavailable in the mid-seventies. The Scot also had a run of games in 1978 after Day hit bad form and injuries. Mervyn Day made his first team debut on 29th August 1973 and not long afterwards the teenager made the senior green shirt his own. He was admired so much that Greenwood proclaimed we had a goalkeeper ‘for the next ten years’.
You can read a very good piece on Mervyn by Tony Hanna from 2015 HERE.
For a goalkeeper, there is no hiding place – Brad Friedel
Having played in two major cup finals as a youngster at 19 and 20, Mervyn would have been the envy of many a teenage goalkeeper. Especially this writer. As Mervyn was a year older than me I tried to relate to what he was going through and how he dealt with it all. Day made 194 appearances for the Irons from 1973 to 1979. His first team place would be taken over by a gentle giant from Queens Park Rangers. Phil Parkes already had a good reputation in the game and was a star performer for the west London side. Upon buying a national newspaper one morning in February 1979, I turned to the back page first (a natural habit then) to find my West Ham United had spent a rather large wad of dosh to buy a real quality keeper at another world record price. Hang on a minute. This is what other clubs do not us. That figure, £565,000, still has me shaking my head in disbelief every time I recall that moment. A QPR mate of mine was not a happy chappy. A sign of a good player is that they make things look easier than it should be. For a big fella he was still agile enough when needed but we was dominant in the box, great with crosses and took no prisoners when leaving his goal line. To me and many, many others, Phil Parkes was and will remain the best West Ham keeper I have had the pleasure to see in our colours. Again, another fine tribute for Phil by Tony Hanna from 2013.
As we reached the end of the seventies there was a genuine hope amongst supporters that success wasn’t that far away in the upcoming eighties.