Who’d be a goalkeeper? You stand on your own, cut off from the rest of the team, taking abuse from the opposition fans. Your job is to prevent the very reason supporters come to games - goals. You voluntarily put yourself in the way of flying balls. And no matter what you do, you always get criticised. You'd have to be mad to be one, right? FourFourTwo talks to the unique individuals who don the gloves to find out what makes them tick.
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00:00I think you've got to have the ability to keep the ball at the back and out, but I think being crazy came out.
00:14It's hard for me to liken it to anything else.
00:17You are somehow always the guy who decides if you win or if you lose.
00:23You have to have a different sort of mentality, almost that villain mentality.
00:27You are literally an individual in the team sport and if you make a mistake you're there on your own.
00:48Goalkeeping chooses its victims. They do not choose the job.
00:52And when you read the job description, it's easy to understand why there are so few applicants.
00:58You stand on your own, cut off from the rest of the team, taking abuse from the opposition fans.
01:04Your job is to prevent the very reason supporters come to games.
01:09Goals.
01:11You voluntarily put yourself in the way of flying balls and no matter what you do, you always get criticised.
01:17So why on earth would you want to be one?
01:20Yeah, when you put it that way I'm not quite sure myself, but in all seriousness I think it's that reason almost to be different.
01:28I think you either have it or you don't. The majority of people like the glory of scoring goals and being the main focus of attention.
01:36Whereas as goalkeepers, we're different. I get a kick out of stopping the goals, denying a striker from scoring a great goal and seeing the look on his face.
01:45When he's devastated the crowd going, being disappointed that the goal wasn't scored.
01:49My immediate draw was I just love diving around, you know, banned from diving around on my sofas at home.
01:55So diving around in the mud and playing football or, you know, I like just simple things like playing catch, cricket, being a fielder.
02:03It all kind of tied in when I was a kid.
02:08Yeah, I think initially when I got into goalkeeping, it wasn't necessarily by choice.
02:13So for me, it was we didn't have a goalkeeper.
02:16And I remember, I remember my first few games as a kid when I was seven years old, eight years old and I saved the penalty in my third game.
02:22And we ended up going on to win the game by a single goal.
02:25And I remember the feeling that I got and even now I'm getting hairs on end.
02:28I remember the feeling I got and yeah, I just felt like I was naturally quite good for the position.
02:36Probably first the motivation of getting beaten very hard.
02:41So this challenge of facing good strikers, good opponents who tried to beat me and sometimes they were successful, but sometimes I was better.
02:53And probably that was the kind of motivation I always liked.
02:56I used to kind of play centre back for my under 12's team and the keeper who was playing was too old.
03:02So when he moved up with another keeper and for some reason I got chucked on goal and I've been there ever since.
03:08So I wouldn't say destined, but that's where I've ended up.
03:12I was born to be a goalkeeper because simply of my genetics and of my father.
03:17So when I started to play, I wanted to be a striker like anybody else.
03:21But they said, no, no, your father was a keeper just going to goal.
03:25So I, very early it was decided for me.
03:29And you know, and once you get into that position, it's the most unique, for me the best position you can play in professional football or in children's football.
03:40Because you are somehow always the guy who decides if you win or if you lose.
03:47And when you make a save that helps your team earn a victory, the rush is comparable to hitting the back of the net.
03:53When the first members were saving, saving shots was always great.
03:57I remember even from an early age, I was just thinking whenever you were able to save a shot and do the impossible and then everyone, you know, thinking how on earth did he do that?
04:06It's always nice to make saves. I think if you then go on to win the game, you know, it's very satisfying.
04:13But equally looking at games where there's a keeper you might not have too much to do, but you really have to battle as a back four.
04:19And, you know, I think you just take so much pleasure in taking a clean sheet and walking off at the end of the game, you know, without conceding.
04:28Because you work so hard during the week to do that and, you know, you almost feel like you've done your job if you come off and you've not conceded.
04:36I think patience in the moment is critical. I think you have to read the game really well. You have to be in the right spot, as you mentioned, physically.
04:45But the best saves that I've made have been at crucial times in the game. And I can always remember just being patient. And patience could actually be a split second.
04:58It's nice making pretty saves, big dives, big blocks, but saves that impact the match are the most important ones for me and give me the greatest pleasure.
05:12Even if it's a simple cross taken at 1-1 and you end up winning the game 2-1 or the game finishes 1-1, they give me the biggest buzz because they affect the match.
05:21You look deeper, you want to protect the team, especially when you've got a team that you see working hard, you know, putting challenges in, pressing.
05:28You know, they do a lot more running, for instance, than a goalkeeper.
05:33The modern day goalkeeper has to be able to do so much more than just save shots.
05:38From the introduction of the back pass rule to the development of balls that move like a plastic bag in a hurricane,
05:44there's always something making their lives that bit harder.
05:48For me, the goalkeeper's position has changed in the last 15-20 years, the most of all in professional football,
06:01because the position became much more complex.
06:04If you're looking at goalkeepers like Manuel Neuer or Ter Stegen from Barcelona,
06:10which are such unbelievable good football players with their leg, you know, they are probably at the same level as a decent first or second division player in England or in Germany, just simply with their feet.
06:22The speed of the game, I think as a goalkeeper, you know, shots are coming out much quicker, you need to be more agile.
06:30Obviously the ball can deviate in the air with the way the ball is now and you need to obviously be able to react as fast as you can.
06:37And, you know, to do that you need to be in the best shape you can be.
06:40You need to, you know, be as strong as you can to deal with the power of, you know, the ball coming at you or contact with other players.
06:49So, you know, you need to be strong, you know, you need to be flexible and obviously it's a good spring when you're dealing with crosses or shots.
06:56So, there's more and more aspects of the game that you need to kind of work on.
07:02I'm not, I don't really, I'm not really a visionary. I don't see the next, you know, the next level or the next improvement.
07:07So, it's always a great bonus to me when someone tells me that they've done something new and exciting and I feel it and I'm like, yeah, I didn't know I needed that.
07:15But the way that, especially like my company, Nike, look into things and the way they're trying to evolve it, you know, they've got a specific goalkeeper section now.
07:24I'm always trying to look for the best way, best ways of helping you, best grips.
07:29It's great for me, it's really interesting to meet up with them and see what they're thinking.
07:35First of all, when you want to become a top goalkeeper, it's mostly important that you can heavily concentrate and that you try to completely put the fear out of your game.
07:48So, it's a mental setup and it's still very hard.
07:54What actually separates the good goalkeepers from the top goalkeepers is dominating your area, coming for crosses in every environment.
08:04And the technique there is catching but punching as well with your right and your left fist.
08:09So, it's a show of dominance as well.
08:12If I show you I'm not that scared as you are, it's a big advantage already.
08:17It's, you know, some really special athletes in goal now, it's not as uncool to be a goalkeeper anymore.
08:25So, it was almost the athletically blessed lads would look to try and play in every other position and use what they've been given.
08:33But now, you know, a great athletic build would be directed in goal.
08:38You know, you can really do great things, you can make an impact on the world stage as a goalkeeper nowadays.
08:42As the goalkeeper's job description has radically changed over the years, their training has evolved.
08:48No more aimless running in a session with the outfield players.
08:51Specialist coaches are devising bespoke programs for the gym and the pitch to build athletes fit for purpose.
08:58Physical strengths will help you do your job as a goalkeeper, but mental strengths will help you survive.
09:04Yeah, I nearly quit on the back of the mistake. So, I'd have been 25, 26, probably had my best ever season.
09:11And we had a playoff game championship against Hull City and it was, we lost the first leg.
09:17We were winning in the second leg and we looked really, really strong.
09:20And I made a bad decision. Ball went up, I thought I could get it. I didn't.
09:23They scored a really soft goal and they went on to win comfortably and they made the Premier League.
09:28The toughest thing was that it was the last game of the season.
09:31So, that game finished. We then had the four hour drive home. I had six weeks summer break.
09:36And you can imagine every single day, I'm beating myself up, especially in the world of Twitter, Facebook and everything else.
09:43People were quick to let me know their thoughts. And I found that really tough.
09:48And I remember the following season, I had a bit of a niggling injury.
09:51I actually pulled myself out of the team for a while and my career took a downward spiral.
09:54And that's where I really heavily got into the mental side of it because I knew it was either a case of,
09:59you learn to deal with this or you don't.
10:02Yeah, I think the motivation for the book itself was that having gone through everything that I'd gone through
10:06and being very close to quitting the game, to then have the best season of my life,
10:10I just thought that it was just a really nice platform.
10:12I wrote my book all on my BlackBerry, which are dying out now.
10:15I think I'm one of the last people with a BlackBerry, I think.
10:18But, you know, it was almost by accident.
10:19It started out just a bit of a cathartic way of looking back over the season because it was such an extraordinary season.
10:25And before I knew it, this blog that I'd written was quite good.
10:29So I carried on with it and two weeks in Florida and by the end of it I had a book on my hands.
10:34You are literally an individual in the team sport and it is one of them where, you know, if you make a mistake,
10:44you're there on your own and, you know, you can't, obviously you can make other saves, but it's not like you can put up the other end in sport.
10:50You know, if you play for one of the best teams and maybe you don't get as much work, you know,
10:54mental strength is being focused for 90 minutes and making that one save when called upon.
10:58Mental strength is also if the team isn't doing so well, but you are.
11:02So you're not winning as much as you want to, but you're playing well, so you have to continue to do your job.
11:06So there's many different ways you have to be mentally strong for as a goalkeeper.
11:09So I think that's part of the appeal is the different scenarios and the ways that you have to be strong and wiser than everyone else.
11:15It's fun. I do find it fun because I'd say 95% of the stuff that the battering you're getting is all quite lighthearted.
11:26It's people trying to be clever and witty. And you can actually isolate the people who genuinely, you know,
11:32some people absolutely lose their mind with you. Like they want to kill you and all you're doing is standing there and goal.
11:37And you can, you know, if you make eye contact, you can, you can see the people around them.
11:42You can almost say, come on, like, what is this clown doing? But that's football. That's our position.
11:47It's, yeah, I'm going to say it's our job to take the good and the bad.
11:53It was mad because it was kind of like a derby in fairness. Our local derby was against a team called Loughran,
11:59but Antwerp was probably 10 kilometres away from where we were based.
12:02But there was, erm, there was an odd bottle, there was an odd coin, there was an odd lighter.
12:07And in the end, I think I've just picked one and thrown one back. We were winning 3-1.
12:12But what I didn't realise was there was a fella doing the gate. He must have been 80-odd.
12:18And I thought, oh, it's a bad move because looking at this gate, it was a still gate.
12:23I'm thinking there's not a, not a chance the gate's coming through.
12:27It's, you know, it was the old fashioned barbed wire on the top and I just thought,
12:31there's no way to get him through here. And then the next minute, the game's still going on at this stage.
12:35And I could just see this, this fella transformed me. He was massive.
12:40Leather jacket on his walk through and I thought, oh, need this.
12:44And then his little mate run behind him and then he wanted to pop as well.
12:47So I thought, we'll give him a dig and hopefully let us settle it down.
12:51And then thankfully it did. And I got hate mail, got death threats.
12:56Only a unique individual would choose to put themselves through all of this for very little credit.
13:02Which is why the old adage says, all goalkeepers are mad.
13:06Jens was definitely without question the maddest I've worked with.
13:11But he was probably the most professional.
13:14I don't know where I lie in that. I don't know whether I'm, I wouldn't say I'm crazy.
13:19I've done some stupid things.
13:20The maddest goalkeeper.
13:22I was working together with Graham Stuck, my first goalkeeping partner at Arsenal.
13:30He was Irish. He was kind of mad in his lifestyle.
13:34He was Irish and he was a very funny guy.
13:37Well, the Irish sometimes, they like to drink and so probably when I was lying in bed sleeping,
13:46sometimes, you know, you could, you could smell that he had one or two drinks.
13:52And he was so funny and he was a good goalkeeper as well.
13:55I remember, I raced Jens Lehmann and all the first team were coming out.
14:00And they were all watching, they were all coming out.
14:01And we used to do little relays on a Friday.
14:04Jerry Payton was a goalie coach and it would be like, so we'd say a country.
14:08That's what they say, it's in Peru.
14:09We'd go Chile, America, Belgium.
14:11And then on Peru, you'd have to sprint.
14:13And it was like first to three and I was sort of like done sprinting 2-0 against Jens.
14:18He was like, weren't the quickest Jens, you know what I mean?
14:21And I was young and I was fit.
14:23And I remember on the last one, I've turned around and beat them backwards.
14:26And all the other lads had watched it, all the first team players had seen it.
14:30And they all started hammering him.
14:32And he chased me, Jens kept chasing me.
14:34So I've stopped and he's carried on past the finish line to try and catch me.
14:39And I thought he wanted to kill me because they just hate you're losing.
14:43I don't think you've got to be crazy to be a keeper.
14:45I think you've got to be brave.
14:47I think you've got to be strong mentally.
14:50And I think you've got to have the ability to kick the ball out the back and out.
14:53But I think being crazy can help.
14:56I played for like 25 clubs in 13 countries on all six FIFA continents,
15:02which makes me the only player so far who have achieved that.
15:06I love animals more than anything else.
15:10And I just had that fable for having exotic pets at home.
15:16So I had some monkeys in Singapore or some lizards, whatever you call it.
15:21I just had it.
15:22And when I played in New Zealand, I saw the beautiful penguins.
15:26I thought, well, why not?
15:27Maybe I can cultivate them to be a nice pet.
15:31Within a few hours or a day, I realized that that won't work out.
15:35So I gave the penguin back into his normal life again.
15:39But that story follows me, of course, all the way around.
15:43When you've had a nightmare and you're getting it from the press, the fans and your teammates,
15:48there's a select group of people who understand your pain.
15:51The goalkeepers union.
15:53In this fabled brotherhood, everyone sticks together.
15:57Don't they?
15:58Don't they?
15:59Until you play the position, I don't think you really do get it.
16:02I think that's why keepers are like that.
16:05I think they understand how hard the position is.
16:07And yeah, I think it's one of them.
16:11I think you just have that bond with other keepers just because of that.
16:16I think you really know how tough the position is and what you have to go through to be a goalkeeper
16:21and the highs and the lows that you experience.
16:24No, I've never understood the GK union.
16:27You know, the whole goalkeepers union.
16:29Coaches used to say, oh, look at the goalies, look at the union and all that.
16:32But I've never been on that.
16:34And I've told players openly and goalies openly that the union ain't, it's not for me.
16:41Because I'll respect you and I'll train and I'll do what's right by you.
16:48If I'm not playing, I'll warm you up properly.
16:50I'll make sure I'm out there on time.
16:51I'll make sure the balls are ready.
16:52I'll make sure everything's spot on for you to have a good game.
16:56Which even in itself is stupid because I want to play.
17:01But it's what's right and that is what's right.
17:02Principally, that's what you should do.
17:04I think with the GK union there is a sense of brotherhood.
17:12Just purely for the fact that you know what each other's going through.
17:16So like, even now when I see a mistake on TV, I know it's a mistake, but it winds me up when I see ex-goalkeepers giving a lot of stick.
17:25I think you certainly have sympathy for other goalkeepers.
17:30I think the goalkeepers union was born of goalkeepers understanding that it is a different position.
17:38We are kind of isolated in our work and in our criticism.
17:44And so, yeah, there's probably some sympathy there.
17:48And I think that's where if another goalkeeper doesn't have a great game, you're happy you won.
17:53But at the same time, you can also look at them and go, I've been there.
17:58I understand what that feels like, but other than that, you know, it is a bit of a made-up type social club, if you will.
18:13For 90 minutes, the goalkeeper multi-tasks, switching from shot-stopper to sweeper-keeper,
18:19integrating themselves into the team both tactically and psychologically.
18:24They play on the edge. One save away from being a hero. One mistake away from being the villain.
18:31Is it the hardest job in football?
18:34That and probably being a striker, but I don't know.
18:38I'd say it's one of them because you can make nine worldies and you make one mistake
18:42and people just remember you for the mistake, so I would probably say goalkeeping is probably the toughest.
18:47We have to respect and appreciate each other's responsibility.
18:51You know, center halves have to go up, you know, they take elbows and cuts across the eye every other game.
18:58You know, a midfielder has literally got to bust his lungs to run up and down the field.
19:03I gotta be honest, I wouldn't want to do that.
19:05I don't have the wherewithal to run 13K in a game, but I need to respect the guy who does,
19:11just the way he has to respect me for putting my face in front of a 70 mile an hour shot
19:16and for diving around like an idiot where it all hurts.
19:19And so there's aspects to the game that need to be respected.
19:23We have a bigger responsibility and I think you have to take that on board.
19:28You have to be encouraged by that, by taking on that responsibility.
19:32We have probably a bigger leadership role in the team than most players.
19:36Listen, sticking the ball in the goal is what wins matches, keeps managers in jobs,
19:43gets players promoted, gets players money for bonuses and whatever else.
19:47So that's probably the most important thing, is scoring goals.
19:51But for me, I think the hardest job in the pitch is being a goalkeeper.
19:54I think it's going to be a goalkeeper.