From the Cat to Thibaut

Photo by @cfcunoffical

At the beginning of this season there has been more discussion about goalkeepers than usual. Personally I am pleased about that as I have been obsessed with the position forever and a day. When Thibaut made his debut I thought I would try and work out how many goalkeepers I had actually seen play for Chelsea so here goes.

I’ve been going since the late 60s early 70s and I think I have seen 28 keepers. Two of those have been John Terry and David Speedie, the latter being the most ridiculous substitute keeper ever (how tall) lobbed from the halfway line by Mickey Robinson one miserable night.

They are in no particular order. Bonetti, Hughes, Phillips, Borota, Digweed, Francis, Beasant, DeGoey, Cudicini, Cech, Hilario, Turnbull, Scwartzer, Fridge, Kharine, Sherwood,  Niedzwiecki, Freestone, Pidgley, Courtois, Terry, Speedie, Godden, Hitchcock, Grodas, Forrest, Ambrosio and Bosnich.

The one actual goalkeeper who has played during my time as a fan who I didn’t see was Nick Colgan who played once under Ian Porterfield away to West Ham. I didn’t see the game when David Webb played a whole game due to various injuries and illnesses to the other keepers. Thanks to the good people of Twitter for the information I realised that I was not at the games where Glen Johnson, Bill Garner,Vinnie Jones or Tommy Langley donned the gloves, anyway I digress

So here’s a brief look at some personal memories of the clubs custodians.

My Favourite

It all started with “the Cat” to this very day my favourite ever Chelsea player. No idea why just loved him. It may have been the kit which bizarrely I am still obsessed with. He was a bit of a style guru. The paper thin green gloves the cap the black Collar…..but what of his keeping?

When I first started watching the blues he was the undisputed number 1. He was a fine reaction keeper and really good in the air for someone who was quite short in keeping terms. His handling was superb and he was not prone to mistakes. His finest hour was the 1970 Cup Final. In the first game he was simply magnificent. He certainly kept us in the game. In the replay he was badly injured by Mick Jones of Leeds early on but in the days of no goalkeeping substitutes bravely soldiered on making more crucial saves

There was however one performance for which he will always be remembered by those of a certain age and sadly it was not his finest hour. Drafted into the England World Cup team for the quarter final against the then West Germany in 1970 he will always be remembered and blamed for floundering watching the ball drift over him for Germany’s second and third goals. Here was a man who hadn’t played a competitive game for nearly 2 months (the FA Cup final replay) thrown into a cauldron and ironically looking like a cat caught in the headlights.

However he remains my hero. He played over 600 games for the blues and whilst his later years were in struggling sides there was always something reassuring to see him there. Sadly when I got the brief opportunity to speak to him some years ago when he was Fulham’s goalkeeping coach I just stood there like a looney with words caught in my throat. Pathetic!

My almost favourite

This may come as a surprise but it is Steve Francis. I think a lot of this was to do with the fact that it was always great to see youth players make it to the first team and here was one of our own debuting at 17. He was very good and had some great seasons but eventually got displaced when we bought Eddie Niedzwiecki. His finest hour was probably when we beat Liverpool at home in the FA cup 2-0. He showed maturity beyond his age and I was left very worried after that game. A Liverpool fan sitting near us came over and said that the European Champions would be back for him, I genuinely thought we could lose him to a bigger club but it didn’t happen. I must add those were the days of my callow youth and so a less polite reply was not offered.

Sadly his last 3 games were West Ham at home 0-4, QPR away 0-6 (those who were at those Easter fixtures still have the mental scars ) and the Members Cup final 5-4, 14 goals conceded and sadly never really seen again.

The Maddest

No brainer. For anyone who watched his brief career Petar Borota was without doubt the most eccentric goalkeeper you’ll ever see. He was ultimately bought to take over from Peter Bonetti and he kept a clean sheet in his debut against Liverpool. When researching this piece I was surprised to see he played over 100 times for us and was the custodian in possibly the clubs darkest hour a 6-0 thumping at the hands of the mighty Rotherham.

You couldn’t take your eyes off of him. You’d be watching the action and out of the corner of your eye you’d see Petar wandering up to the half way line. He’d got bored and was trying to make things interesting.

He was a good keeper but my abiding memory was in 1981 we were away to Birmingham in a crucial promotion game it was us or them to go up. It was midweek and I’d made the trip from college. With a couple of minutes gone I just arrived to watch him flapping at the ball and virtually palm it in, the second followed shortly afterwards and it was a very long night.

Sadly Peter passed away in 2010 but he will always be a favourite of those “lucky” enough to see him.

The Shortest Career

Poor Les Fridge. In 1986 our last home game of the season was against Watford. For reasons I don’t know players we had bought for the following season were allowed to play in this game. They were Gordon Durie and Ken McNaught. The other debutant was Les Fridge. There was nothing to play for so I was looking forward to this game always keen to look at new players. We got hammered 5-1. The players were obviously already on holiday. No contest against Graham Taylors boys and poor old Les was never seen again in a Chelsea shirt. I don’t remember him being particularly bad though. Not a significant contribution but something that stuck in my mind.

Unluckiest

This has to be Eddie Niedzwiecki. Bought from Wrexham in 1983 he became part of the legendary 83-84 promotion side. A really fabulous keeper who just got better with every season he played. Sadly he suffered some horrendous injuries which ended his career in 1988. I believe he could have been our keeper for many years had it not been for the injuries.

There were many great performances by Eddie but none finer than an away game at Fulham in the league cup. It may have been a replay but if my memory is correct he made numerous great saves including a penalty save and we had a completely undeserved 1-0 victory. It was one of those nights that had somebody driven a bus at him he would have tipped it round the post.

An honourable mention under this section also goes to Carlo. A very good keeper but every time he seemed to get an opportunity, most notably at Reading. He could have played for the whole of the remaining season after the assault on Petr but within 70 minutes was off on a stretcher he himself being the victim of another disgraceful “challenge” . Equally dangerous, as he was in the air but not mentioned anywhere near as much for obvious reasons.

Luckiest

Ross Turnbull, I have nothing more to add! (Ross Tunbull won the European Cup! -Ed)

Honourable Mentions

Dave Beasant was much maligned but people tend to forget he was a very valuable member of the team that got promoted in 1989. He came in with Mickey Thomas in January and we went unbeaten for the remainder of that season going up as Champions.

Ed De Goey set new standards when he arrived. Kept loads of clean sheets won trophies and hearts. His crowning glory for me was during our amazing home win in the semi-final of the Cup winners cup in 1998 against Vicenza. Everyone remembers Mark Hughes amazing goal to put us 3-1 up (and rightly so)  but minutes later nearing the final whistle the ball was loose in our area the Vicenza forward was just about to hit the ball in and Ed got a touch to take it away from him. Afterward when questioned he said in a true Dutch relaxed style “ I just flick it”. Oh boy did he.

The Best

There can be no doubt and I am really sorry Peter but there has been no finer keeper than Petr Cech. An absolute giant of a keeper. In my opinion vastly underrated in talent and what he has contributed to CFC and its history but simply a tremendous keeper and the best I have seen.

Pre-season I wrote an article about  him and the unhealthy haste in which people were trying to write him off (link). Most of what I want to say about him is in that article but the fact remains people like Frank Didier JT are lauded as true greats yet I would argue that Petr’s contribution puts him beside those guys. When he was badly injured and during several other more minor injuries his absence was always sorely missed. It meant watching either Turnbull and Hilario behind my hands.

In so far as this may be his last season or even his last couple of months at the club I salute you Petr the Great!

The Future

With a new contract penned the future is bright. The new Custodian is Thibaut Courtois a remarkably good and very young keeper. I have only seen him in a handful of games but he really does look something special. If he can keep injury free I would hope that he will be here for the foreseeable.

Clayton Beerman

@goalie59