Chapter 5. Goalkeepers Must Now Be Footballers

The previous chapter brings me to the end of what, for the sake of clarification more than anything else, I call section one of this book. Section two, if I may put it thus, brings us in closer touch with individual players; with the duties and the play connected with the various positions on the field.

Where the people whose task it is to build football teams usually start, or whether there is one recognized and generally accepted starting place, doesn't matter a great deal. I have to start somewhere, and there is one ready-to-hand starting place: between the posts. Rightly or wrongly then, let us take a look at goalkeeping and goalkeepers first of all in relation to positional play.

It would be just as well, to begin with, if the universal temptation to be funny about goalkeeping and goalkeepers were resisted. No amount of deep thinking is required to come to the conclusion that goalkeeping is a very serious job, or that the goalkeeper is not the least important member of the party. I have even heard it said that a football team consists of ten footballers and a goalkeeper. If that sort of remark was ever true, however, it is certainly not true in these modern times. Eleven footballers make up the good up-to-date team, and this means that the goalkeeper is a footballer. More and more he is becoming a real footballer. That's all to the good and should be noted by those who have ambitions connected with this place in the team.

On my desk is a picture I am very fond of; a generally popular one. It shows a little chap in cricket attire, wearing a cap at a saucy angle. In the hands of this little chap is a bat about as big as the boy himself. Under the picture are the words: 'The hope of his side'. Somebody ought to draw a companion picture to that one, with the title slightly changed. It would show the goalkeeper, and the words underneath would be: 'The last hope of his side'. That really describes the goalkeeper. He is in the last ditch, the last hope, with knowledge that he can't afford to make mistakes. There is nobody after him to remedy them. Moreover, a mistake by a goalkeeper is remembered and recalled when lots of other things about the same match are forgotten.

In the first of the five Gup Finals in which I played - about a quarter of a century ago - Arsenal lost to Cardiff City by a single goal, scored with a simple sort of shot which Dan Lewis would have dealt with safely ninety-nine times out of a hundred. On that day of days he allowed the ball to slip out of his hands and over the line. That is the incident I remember about the Cup Final. If I really dwelt on the match long enough, however, I should also think about the mistakes the Arsenal forwards made in that game. I myself ought to have scored a couple of goals.

That difference between the goalkeeper and the other players on the field - the fact that the 'Aunt Sally' can't afford to make a mistake - must be laced with all the thoughts and ideas about goalkeeping. It always has been true. Moreover, it is still true, even if in some respects ideas about the things which go to make up a good goalkeeper have changed in recent times. For the man between the posts it must be safety first.

The temptation to indulge in the spectacular stuff is strong, and there are quite a lot of goalkeepers in first-class sides even to-day who find it too strong to be resisted. We still see fellows trying - and failing to catch a high ball when it would have been quite easy - and much safer - for them to put it over the bar or round the post. The cold shivers run down my spine when I see a goalkeeper, with the ball in his hands, taking two or three steps to dodge an oncoming forward, bouncing the ball, and then doing the same thing again. Suppose he drops it! The unnecessary dodging might be fatal. Play safe; get rid of it.

Among the statements of policy continually repeated in football circles is that goalkeepers are cheap and plentiful; six a penny. That isn't just a joke. In a sense it is true, for this very clear reason. To a greater extent than any other member of a football team the goalkeeper is 'on his own'. He is less a part of a machine than are the placers in other positions; less dependent on what his colleagues do. Moreover, no matter the class of football, the goalkeeper is presented with the same sort of problems. He gets high shots and low shots, fast ones and slow ones, plus curling centres, and all the rest of it. Only in recent times has it been recognized that there is a difference between the star goalkeepers and the ordinary ones. For quite a long time the highest transfer fee paid for any goalkeeper was considerably below the biggest fee paid for, say, an inside forward. But when Manchester United wanted a goalkeeper not long ago they paid a big fee for Reg Allen. Shortly afterwards the Derby County manager thought it worth while to dig deeply into the club's banking account to get the services of Ray Middleton from Chesterfield.

Bearing in mind that good goalkeepers are now considered almost as valuable as good players in any other position, we can go further into details, and in doing so pass on hints about the things which go to make-up the best goalkeepers. I don't even suggest that I am putting things in proper order when I say that a good goalkeeper should be a good kicker of the ball. I do put it in early, however, because it is a point which is so often overlooked. Indeed there is some evidence that modern goalkeepers are not such good kickers as the goalkeepers of old. When I was a lad it was not considered extraordinary for the goalkeeper of a side to take the penalty kicks awarded to his team. There were several goalkeepers who did it regularly -and successfully. 'Tiny' Joyce scored many goals for Millwall from the twelve yards spot. He, and the other goalkeeper penalty takers, would not have been called up for the job if they had not been good kickers of the ball: accurate as well as strong.

There aren't any goalkeeper penalty takers in these days. That may not be entirely due to the fear that if a goalkeeper's penalty kick was cleared he wouldn't be back in his place in time to stop the other fellows from scoring. Even if they are not penalty takers, however, goalkeepers can still be of extra help to the side if they are able to kick well.

Ted Ditchburn of the Spurs was already on the short list of candidates for a place in England's International side - by reason of the brilliant saves he made - before he had really mastered the art of ball-kicking. During the time I was manager of Tottenham Hotspur I caused Ditchburn to spend hours every week learning how to 'place' a ball on those occasions when he had time to think where he was kicking it. Colleagues of his were sent up the field - to centre-forward or to the wings - and it was Ditchburn's practice time job to land the ball at their feet. To learn to kick to a target is among the tips passed on to goalkeepers.

Mighty Frank Swift could kick a ball well into the far half of the field. He didn't always do it, of course, and there is no suggestion that the long kick should never be varied. The point is that whatever the length of the kick, it should be accurate. In the French side which went so near to beating England recently there was a goalkeeper who used the drop-kick quite a lot. With this type of kick he was able to find a man far distant from him without sending the ball up into the clouds. From time to time I get the idea that many players -dead keen on the game - become goalkeepers because they are such poor ball-kickers. But I want my goalkeeper to be a good kicker.

It may be said that the goalkeepers of our time have improved on their fathers because they don't kick the ball so hard or so often. Instead they make a water-polo throw, or roll the ball along the ground to some near-by defender. That's true. They do. Even while I recognize the risk I am running of being dubbed old-fashioned, I still make the statement that there is a real danger, in these days, of the short-distance clearance being overdone. In the first place there are attendant risks. In the second place it slows down the game. Consider what happens. The goalkeeper struggles to get clear of his opponents. He then rolls the ball along the ground to a near-by full-back, who takes it up before passing it along to the wing half-back.

The goalkeeper, in safe possession, rolls the ball along the ground to his full-back, who has taken up position. The fullback passes the ball to his half-back, who progresses a little and then sends it forward - preferably to the outside wing man. Good constructive move with risks attached, but worth while, as it may catch the defenders scattered and far out from their own goal.

Fig 1

In turn the wing-half travels a little way, and then on the ball goes to the outside right. While all this has been going on the defenders of the other side have been getting back to their respective covering positions. They would have been much more likely to be found out of position if, instead of that original short pass, the goalkeeper, with one accurate kick, had landed the ball at the feet of the outside right. In other words, one good kick would have achieved the same objective - at a quicker pace - as several kicks.

Again, there would be fewer goalkeepers carried to the dressing-room - or to the nearest hospital - suffering from injuries about the head or arms if they could, and would, on occasion, kick the ball clear instead of throwing themselves full length in the effort to grasp it.

The one fellow on the field who is allowed to use his hands must also learn how to use his feet to the ball. The goalkeeper isn't a unit, 'on his own', to as great an extent as many people imagine, or as many goalkeepers seem to think. If he is doing his job well, he is starting attacks by his own side as well as stopping attacks by the enemy.

While the goalkeeper's place is, generally speaking, under the bar, there is a much greater space which he should regard as his own. That is the space which can roughly be described as marked by the two lines running six yards out from each goal-post, connected with a cross-line - the goal area, as it is officially known. When the ball comes into that area the goalkeeper should consider that it belongs to him, and he should leave the other defenders in no doubt that he is for the time being the rightful owner of that ball. Especially does this apply to those balls dropping into the goal area from the wings.

In a recent match a goalkeeper and a full-back had to receive attention for injuries received simultaneously. Trying to be in position to head away a ball coming over from the wing, the full-back retreated towards his goal. At the same time the goalkeeper came out to deal with the ball. There was a nasty collision. After the trainer had brought both of them round, the goalkeeper said to the full-back: 'You should have left it to me'.

The retort of the full-back was: 'You didn't shout'.

It's too late when the goalkeeper and the full-back are lying on the ground, both having gone for the same ball, and that ball resting in the net.

Those high centres, coming across from the wing, with opponents dashing in to meet the ball, are among the awkward moments for even the best of goalkeepers. Sometimes the ball can be caught, and if it can be - with safety - then it should be. If there is a risk attached, however, then the thing to do is to use one or both fists. If the fist is used, let it be remembered that it is wiser to deflect the ball towards the sideline than down the middle. If the ball has come over from the right, it is a certainty that the left-wing attackers will have closed in with a view to getting to the ball before the goalkeeper. This means that there is a safety zone over on his own right, into which the goalkeeper can hand the ball.

Then there is the hard shot, the ball too high or driving too fast for the goalkeeper to catch. Here also the 'safety first' motto should be applied. Much better to concede a corner-kick by using the flat of the hands to divert the ball over the bar, or round the post, than run the risk attached to trying to bring it down or hold it. Trying to hold such shots is making a hard job, attended with all sorts of risks, of what is really quite an easy one.

The soft goals often come because goalkeepers treat shots as easy. Whenever possible, get the body, or the legs, in line with the oncoming ball. I saw a Cup-tie lost last season by a goalkeeper who did not take the precaution of thus covering up. The ground was wet: the shot was a fairly long one. The goalkeeper could have had his legs as extra guards. They were wide open, and when the ball slipped out of his hands it also slipped between his legs.

Having made up his mind that the ball in the goal area belongs to him, there is one thing the goalkeeper must not do. He must not change his mind. He who hesitates is lost. Suppose, to give an example, the centre-forward of the other side has slipped through with the ball to somewhere around the edge of the penalty area. He may kick it just a little way forward. If the goalkeeper thinks he can get it by pouncing on it, he must go all out for it. One possible effect of this advance is that the fellow with the ball may be hustled into taking a too hurried shot and thus miss the target. Even more important is the fact that by advancing from his goal the goalkeeper has narrowed the angle.

To the people who say, after a goal has been scored by a forward dashing through as I have suggested, that the goalkeeper should have stayed at home, I say 'Stuff and nonsense!' By coming out to meet the opponent the goalkeeper has done the really important thing; narrowed the angle on either side of him at which the oncoming forward can shoot for the net.

If an attacker has broken through, as shown, and the goalkeeper stays under the bar, he leaves a lot of space at each side of him into which the player in possession can shoot.

By advancing from his place the goalkeeper is not only likely to fluster the player with the ball, but narrows the angle for the successful shot.

Fig 2

Talking of angles, there are times when the goalkeeper can, by taking up the right position, make it almost impossible for an opponent to beat him. One of the goals which I still remember vividly was scored against that great goalkeeper and master of the art of anticipation, Harry Hibbs. Playing against his side I cut in from the wing to a place near the goal line. There was no colleague to whom the ball could be passed, so I had to shoot. Hibbs, sensing this, took up position near the goalpost which I was approaching; leaving scarcely any target except himself for me to aim at. But he had just left sufficient space between himself and the post, and I banged the ball into that space. Into the net it went, nearly taking the skin off the goalkeeper's ear on route. Harry called me a lucky fellow, but the simple truth was that in trying to cover any angled shot I could make he had not gone quite close enough to the near post, leaving room for me to 'squeeze' the ball through.

I often wonder whether the art of anticipation is just one of the things which a goalkeeper either has or has not got. What is certain is that this is very definitely a part of the makeup of the tip-top goalkeeper. Why do the best of them make such a large proportion of the saves look easy? The answer is that, anticipating cleverly, they are in the right place at the right time. The aim for the goalkeeper must be to find out what the opponent in possession of the ball will do - almost must do - in given circumstances. One way to find out is for the goalkeeper to put in some practice as a forward - at shooting. Many of the keepers in the top class do this: Sam Bartram and Bert Williams, for instance. Incidentally, the Wolverhampton and England goalkeeper is just about the quickest starter on the Wolves staff".

There is no other goalkeeper of our time, so far as I have noticed, who is so capable of switching direction when he is in flight. Anticipating the ball going in one direction, he starts to jump that way. But if, somehow, the fellow with the ball changes direction, then Williams can switch his jump at least sufficiently to enable him to get an outstretched hand to the ball. Then follows a miraculous save!

It is also most helpful if the goalkeeper is on the lookout for the postcard which so many forwards are ready to send, as to the direction in which they intend the final shot to go home. The turn of the foot just before the shot is made may give away the intention, with the result that the watching goalkeeper will get the credit of anticipating cleverly when in actual fact the man with the ball has really sent him advance notice of his intentions. The credit note to the goalkeeper is that he was on the lookout for the tip.

The point having been stressed that there are such a lot of good - if not complete goalkeepers - I would say that the difference between the top-notchers and the less eminent is that the former give more thought to their job. In short, by their actions they give the lie to the suggestion that in the make-up of all goalkeepers there is a touch of madness.

One goalkeeper of my acquaintance keeps a chart showing the exact way in which every goal is scored against him. At home, after each match in which he has been beaten, he reconstructs on paper every goal. The chart is duly taken to his club headquarters on the next training day: is shown to the other players, who are then expected to copy the movement on the chart. Thus the goalkeeper is able to decide whether, in the circumstances, he could have done anything different; anything which would have helped him to save the final shot.

I am not prepared to give instructions as to how goalkeepers should save penalty kicks, because in the ordinary course of events these should not be stoppable. Yet Jack Fairbrother, goalkeeper of Newcastle United, considered it worth while to keep a notebook in which are jotted down the various ways of the penalty-kick takers. If, as the result of the study of these notes, he can spot which side of him - to left or to right - any particular penalty-kick artist is likely to drive the ball, Fair-brother can be poised to make a quick move in that direction the instant the ball is kicked. By the way, have you noticed that a big proportion of good goalkeepers are better against shots on one side than the other? The fault can be cured by practice. That it isn't cured is due to the fact that not all goalkeepers are conscious of their weakness.

All in all, goalkeeping isn't just a matter of waiting for opponents to fire in the shots and then doing everything possible to stop them. The job calls for as much thought - possibly more - than is required in any other position. That is one reason why it is necessary to tell young goalkeepers not to get into the very bad habit of talking to the spectators. At matches of minor importance the watchers often stand a couple of yards, or even less, away from the goalkeeper. Treat them as if they weren't there. Follow the play all the time. The moment may come when the full-back or the centre-half will need the goalkeeper to come to his assistance. Be ready, call for the ball if the full-back is in trouble.

As a final word, don't forget that the goalkeeper may go for spells in any match without having much work to do. So dress to keep warm. Also keep the circulation going by moving about, even apart from the time when there are shots to be saved or goal-kicks to be taken.