What Makes a World-Class Goalkeeper? | Eric Steele

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Today's guest has coached some of the greatest goalkeepers in football history Schmeichel, Van Der Sar, De Gea Hart.
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It goes on and it goes on, but Eric steele's story starts far from the bright lights of Old Trafford and Sir Alex Ferguson.
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From a young lad at Walden Boys Club to becoming Manchester United's trusted Goalkeeping coach, Eric learned that greatness isn't about talent to alone.
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It's about discipline, communication, and always evolving.
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In this episode, Eric opens up on what it really takes to develop world class keepers, how coaching has changed over the decades, and why understanding the person matters just as much as perfecting the technique.
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This is more than a conversation about saves and clean sheets.
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But it's a deep dive into mindset leadership and the legacy of one of football's finest teachers.
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I'm not gonna lie, I had to contend myself in this episode and I hope that energy shines through.
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This is a man who's worked with some of the most amazing footballers and managers in the world, and, I had to work really hard to keep this conversation on track because there's a million questions I could have asked Eric that I couldn't get to and stay true to the podcast.
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Um, one of these days, I might take you behind the scenes to what questions I got to ask afterwards as well.
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But, uh, I hope you enjoy this episode and please share it with your friends and family.
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If they're a Manchester United fan, they will know this guy extremely well.
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He needs no introduction.
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Enjoy.
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​Hello and welcome to this month's episode of the EvoGK podcast, catching up, today, I have the absolute pleasure of being joined by former Manchester United Goalkeeping coach Eric Steele.
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Eric, welcome to the show!
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Good afternoon.
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Pleasure to be here.
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Eric's football journey began in northeast of England, born in Wallsend, 1954.
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I'll say that quietly.
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And, he carved out a solid playing career as a goalkeeper, starting at Newcastle United Youth setup, really making his mark at peterborough, where he held a club record for consecutive appearances, and then spells at Brighton and Hove Albion, Watford, Derby County, and others.
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But what really makes Eric especially fascinating for our discussion today is his transformation into one of the most respected Goalkeeping coaches in the game.
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After hanging up his gloves in around 1988, he set up his own specialist coaching service, traveling and working internationally before securing roles at elite clubs like Aston Villa Man City, and in particular, man United.
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Where he joined as First Team goalkeeping coach in 2008 alongside his club work at since 2015, he's been engaged by the English Football Association working with the next generation of national team Goalkeepers.
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In short, we have someone on the shore who immediately knows the Player to coach Journey has operated at the highest levels of the game and brings both practical hands-on experience and strategic thinking about how goalkeepers develop, perform, and evolve.
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That is some write up.
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Eric, I'm not going to lie, I'm excited
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some intro.
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Thank you ever so much.
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Yeah, I'm puffing my chest there for hearing that.
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I better make sure the answers I'm going to give you are going to match what you've just told everybody.
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So yeah, no looking forward to it.
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Very good.
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It's fantastic.
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before we get into anything in too much depth, I want to know as soon as I asked Ian and John in our first two episodes, who was your goalkeeper hero?
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I had two heroes.
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Number one, when I was a young goalkeeper trying to take balls off everybody on timeout Whitley Bay Beach.
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That's how my mam knew I was going to be a goalkeeper.
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I didn't kick the ball.
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I used to always run over, grab it and literally carry it like goalkeepers do.
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So I knew.
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Then my mam says, you are going to be a goalkeeper.
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I knew that.
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So by the time I got to 11 years of age, and this is just before I went to Wallsend Boys Club, which I'm sure we'll touch on, my hero then was Levy Ashen, who was a Russian goalkeeper called the Cat.
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All dressed in Black 66 World Cup.
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My mam's working away.
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My dad's working away and I can't remember yet who got the tickets, but the actual Russia played at Roker Park.
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The old Sunderland Stadium.
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Yeah.
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And I got the tickets and I went and was the old fashioned used to stand in and I just remember going, and he was well known for the total black shorts, socks top.
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And I still to this day, remember the free kick went round the wall and everybody around me went GOAL And then all of a sudden this leap and it was like a puma.
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It was like a black puma, two hands.
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And he parried the ball like Peter Schmeichel, and it didn't go for a corner, it went for a Throw In And that stuck in my mind.
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So he was, bless his heart, he's no longer with us.
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He was my first hero, my second hero through playing.
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And then coaching was Gordon Banks, who in the 66 World Cup, obviously massive, game, played a part in us getting there.
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But also since then, I've met him two or three times.
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He's no longer with us.
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He actually Guested on the FA conference that we used to have the Goalkeeping conference in St.
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George's.
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And he was unbelievable.
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I still remember him now talking about the Save 1970 Guadalajara a great save from Pelé.
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And he actually demonstrates it on the stage and he's in a full suit, collar and tie.
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And his movement across the stage.
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It was absolutely the same as 1970.
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And I just looked and went, wow.
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Met him, went his funeral.
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the respect the people that had traveled for that guy.
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so yeah, that's really my two heroes, that I've had.
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And a lot of the, a lot of the actual techniques that I look at, I still look at banks and watch the footage that I've managed to get, so that when I do hand over individual techniques or how they should adapt the game, a lot of it is based on Gordon Banks
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as fascinating.
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that is incredibly detailed and I love it.
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and I think there's, definitely some stuff that I want to come back to in, in a, few moments, but, you mentioned it there earlier, Wallsend Boys.
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so you came up through Wallsend, which is, let's be honest, it's a, feeder club, feeder area for Newcastle United and, lots of other clubs in the area.
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what was it like kinda learning your trade there as a young keeper back in the day?
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Absolutely.
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When you look back, it not only gave you, so I'm actually going to the boys club while I'm up, I'm going on Tuesday to meet with the gentleman who has been behind over the last 50 odd years.
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Peter Kirkley he has scouted for Newcastle.
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But he's also looked at the boys club.
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He's seen a develop along with Steve Dale, the chairman.
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And they have now been responsible for 97 players in the 50 odd years have actually gone into pro football and earned pro contracts.
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So I was one of the first.
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I signed for Newcastle in 1972, but since then there's 96 of followed that.
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So what that gave was initially when you went to the boys club, it wasn't just football, it was going, you get home from school homework, then you walk, you go off to Wallsend Boys Club and you play table tennis or you'd play billiards, whatever.
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But you train as well.
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We actually did train one of the few clubs in the area that we, trained twice a week.
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week.
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But we are taught discipline.
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We were taught standards.
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So like you're saying, your, boys listening to this, the importance of if you book table tennis at six o'clock and you turn over at one minute past, you don't get on the table tennis table.
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Yeah.
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Don't be late as the great man that we're going to come on to.
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Sir Alex used to say, I'd rather you are 20 minutes early than two minutes late and he's spot on.
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So that these were life lessons that al learned.
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Be on time, be respectful.
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Always.
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We always shake hands at the end of the game.
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Whether we'd run, lost or draw.
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And this was again, through a lot of the coaches and the staff that were there.
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Dave Beard, who's not longer with us, he was the boys club manager and ran it.
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So there was just, it was a place where you could feel safe, secure, but boy you knew if you stepped outta line you didn't play.
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If you were late, you didn't play.
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Yep.
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And I thought that was really important.
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So yeah, I went to Burnside High School did stayed and did air levels.
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Worked one way through with Wallsend Boys Club, and then eventually I went and I was playing reserve football for Newcastle United when I was 16, 17 at St.
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James' Park.
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Amazing.
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And it was, again, that was all part up upgrades, but also it was just another chapter that went the importance of working training, being prepared for games, being organised being disciplined.
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That was really drilled into you.
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then eventually I started on the pro game when I was 18 and then carried on.
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What was it like when you first made that switch and you got into the, in, into the pro team and, you walked out in front of a full crowd?
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I think the big, I was blessed because again, going back, there'll not be many will remember this, but when I used to play at Newcastle, if you played first team on a Saturday and the first team were away, the reserve team was in the Central League as it was, then you'd play on St.
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James' Park.
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So I played in front of six hours at school studying air levels.
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Played for the school in the morning, going, playing in the afternoon for Newcastle Reserves.
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So I played about 14, 15 games.
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I played against people, Bobby Charlton, returning from injury, Colin Bell, and I'm going, I'm playing in all but there was four or 5,000 people.
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So you don't have that now.
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'cause the, you play U21s football, 23's where you're playing and there's three men and a dog and the coaching staff.
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Still a great environment on these fabulous pitches, but that upbringing, so I was actually, I think I played about nearly 15, 20 games in the Central League.
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So that was unbelievable grounding for me.
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So that you go away and I went away to Stoke City and again, a Gordon Banks story.
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I go, I've been picked up from school, I've got permission to go.
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I get to stoke, I've got me boots.
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What do I forget, the gloves.
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So always remember I said to the we didn't have kit men, then the physio used to do everything.
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Yeah.
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And I sent the physio.
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I've rushed outta school.
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I forgot, my gloves and oh my word.
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Guess who's happens to be the number one goalkeeper there?
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Gordon Banks.
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So off they go.
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They come back 10 minutes later, said, oh, we've got a pair of Gordon Banks, the green cotton gloves.
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You're welcome to have them, son.
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I went, welcome to have them.
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I didn't want to wear'em, but I did.
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Never going to get washed.
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Never met them.
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They didn't get washed from the actual game.
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And I still, to this day, I left them with my dad and I still don't know where they are.
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But the memory of actually getting nowhere was Gordon Banks'.
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But that was the fact that you were playing Gordon Banks had gone to watch the game.
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So that's, the way the game was then.
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Yeah.
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We've got too many tears at times now.
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But the actual, if you played first Team, brilliant.
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They didn't have seven subs.
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Nine subs, then one sub.
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That was it.
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So these were all part of the upbringing that you needed to have to appreciate when you did get pro and you did get in that first team dressing room.
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That's, that was just the start.
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Yeah.
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I think that's the key that I hear from a, lot of the coaches that we've interviewed so far, is you've gotta go through the rough times to appreciate the good.
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Right?
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Like nobody gets gifted that, pro contract.
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Nobody gets gifted game time.
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You've gotta work for everything.
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But when you do and you've gone through all of that, then the rough times that you've been through help you appreciate what's, coming.
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Well, sometimes you've gotta fail before you succeed.
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But what you do is, lessons are, did you learn, are you prepared to learn the lesson from when you failed?
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Yeah.
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I don't know a footballer yet.
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That hasn't failed in some capacity.
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Yeah.
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Whether he is missed a tackle, whether he is handball, accidentally missed a chance from three yards, all the various executors are here.
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Oh yeah.
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Miss, I'm cute.
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Oh yeah.
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The wind blew at the other, at the end of it.
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Sometimes it doesn't do any harm.
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Yeah.
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As long as it's part of your learning process.
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And that's both as a player and as a coach.
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Yeah.
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So then I guess, you know, when we look at what you talk about the level of professionalism that you were taught at Walls and Boys Club, then, do you think that's kind of, we talked at the beginning about, you know, you've got the, record for the consecutive number of appearances and, you've wrapped up hundreds of appearances, a player.
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do you think that's what instilled that level of dependability for you?
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That kind of, there was nothing going to stop you from playing week in, week out, and you were going to I guess, look after yourself in order to make sure that you could do that?
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Right.
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Without a doubt.
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Part of being a professional, I do it now where I, go into clubs and I'm helping people as a consultant and I'd say You having issues with certain players, yeah.
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Tell you what to do.
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Ask'em to spell professional, which some of them can't.
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When they can spell professional, ask'em what that means to them.
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It's amazing The answers you get.
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What you're looking for is what you would expect from your parents, whether they say, what do you think professional means?
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Being on time, never late for meetings.
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Turn up smart.
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Be prepared to listen.
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Be prepared to ask questions.
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All the things that we put into that.
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So I was, again, I was given that, so what I've done is lessons learned again, from when I turned well, I literally moved from playing into coaching very much.
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A lot of the lessons I had as a player, I carried on into coaching and that's part of it where I always say to the coaches, don't be afraid to ask a player.
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Yeah.
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How do you feel?
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What do you think you need more of?
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What went wrong last week?
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you haven't got any faults?
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We've got areas to improve.
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Oh yeah.
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All of a sudden.
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So if you, if again, I went away and learned psychology, which I think is important, especially for goalkeepers, but also for goalkeeper coaches.
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'cause the role in the last five, six years has totally changed.
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With that in mind then what was it that made you consider the leap from playing to coaching?
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Because whilst, everybody retires at some point, not everybody decides to take the leap into coaching and lots of other people go off and do all sorts of interesting ventures.
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Somebody told me and I, still to this day, I think it was the youth coach at Newcastle when I was there, he was a winger ex-player, Jeff Allen.
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And he actually said to me, I played for his youth team when we won the Northern Intermediate League where someone would play in it, Middlesborough Sheffield.
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So it was basically in and around the north of England.
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And he actually said to me, do you know what steel?
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He says, if you don't turn pro, I'll tell you what's going to help you be a coach as well.
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I think it'll help you help your game.
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It'll improve your game.
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And I did.
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So I went off.
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Then you had like a prelim and I went to Durham College when I signed pro and I went and did, and that was, there was no goalkeeping courses then It was out purely outfield.
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And I did, I went on that.
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And it's something that I'll actually advise a lot of goalkeepers players to do.
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Don't wait till you're 34, 35 and go, oh, I wish I'd done, I wish I'd done me.
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Yeah.
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I should have done that course.
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I should have done the A License should have done the beat.
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Yeah.
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So that really was sound advice and that did help me.
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And I've known other goalkeepers where I've said, go and do exactly what I was told to do.
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And that's helped.
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So I think you need now, as a goalkeeper, it's not enough just to keep the ball out the net, even though that is still the most important job.
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But you have to understand the game.
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Yeah.
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And I think as a coach, if you're coach, if you're playing and coaching, I think you'll definitely understand you'll value the game more.
00:15:42.206 --> 00:15:44.726
And I guess there's a certain amount of self-belief in there as well.
00:15:44.726 --> 00:15:53.547
'cause it is not everybody believes or there's a lot of self, sorry, a lot of imposter syndrome that sits in there and goes, well, why would anybody want to listen to me?
00:15:53.547 --> 00:15:56.876
You know, you're talking to a young 22, 23 year old goalkeeper.
00:15:56.951 --> 00:15:58.751
"I've achieved nothing yet.
00:15:58.902 --> 00:16:02.052
Why would I want to be a coach?" What would your answer be to them?
00:16:02.802 --> 00:16:05.981
What you have to have is you have to, gain the knowledge and the experience.
00:16:05.981 --> 00:16:16.091
So a bit like I've said to a lot of the outfield coaches, if you start having to go a goalkeeper coaches, just remember we go and do your B license outfield, then we do the B license goalkeeper.
00:16:16.182 --> 00:16:20.652
We then do the A License outfield, and then we do the A License goalkeeper.
00:16:21.611 --> 00:16:24.491
How many goalkeeping courses badges have you been on?
00:16:25.601 --> 00:16:26.741
The answer is, no.
00:16:27.042 --> 00:16:28.302
Yeah, but you are just goalkeeper.
00:16:28.302 --> 00:16:28.961
They're just goalkeeper.
00:16:28.991 --> 00:16:30.072
Just goalkeeper coaches.
00:16:30.642 --> 00:16:38.682
So what I always say to my, the coaches that I've held through the FA system, so anybody who's been in the FA system will always get full support from me.
00:16:38.922 --> 00:16:42.822
So if somebody rings me and I get nearly always in the January or the summer window.
00:16:43.121 --> 00:16:43.331
Yeah.
00:16:43.392 --> 00:16:43.631
Steely.
00:16:43.721 --> 00:16:45.971
I need a goalkeeper, steely, I need a coach.
00:16:46.331 --> 00:16:50.231
What level he might be, YDP, youth development phase, professional phase.
00:16:50.412 --> 00:16:50.741
Okay.
00:16:51.251 --> 00:16:52.001
Very quickly.
00:16:52.422 --> 00:16:53.621
I just go down, run down.
00:16:53.621 --> 00:16:57.402
The people that I've worked with, even though I've been retired three, four years, I still know where they are.
00:16:57.912 --> 00:16:58.121
Yeah.
00:16:58.152 --> 00:17:07.781
So what I always say to them is, what you have to be prepared for is when you are asked your opinion, make sure you've got more, and it doesn't necessarily, it's no good.
00:17:07.781 --> 00:17:09.731
It's no good just saying, yes, Paul.
00:17:09.821 --> 00:17:10.541
Hey, I agree with that.
00:17:10.632 --> 00:17:13.342
No, Paul, you've gotta put some reasoning behind that.
00:17:14.152 --> 00:17:15.192
That's the way you develop.
00:17:15.192 --> 00:17:17.201
So if you don't understand the game, go and learn it.
00:17:17.622 --> 00:17:20.652
If you don't understand enough about psychology, go and do an online course.
00:17:21.402 --> 00:17:24.432
If you don't know enough about weight lifting, go and do the bowler course.
00:17:24.612 --> 00:17:24.791
Yeah.
00:17:25.511 --> 00:17:26.382
So, which I did.
00:17:26.382 --> 00:17:31.751
So then if, when sports science comes in and the fitness coaches, I know exactly what I want.
00:17:31.751 --> 00:17:36.311
When I say I want Olympic lift on, I want a clean, I want a snatch.
00:17:37.152 --> 00:17:38.757
Snatch is an important one for the goalkeepers.
00:17:38.832 --> 00:17:39.041
Why?
00:17:39.071 --> 00:17:41.021
Because they've gotta have the reach for that top corner.
00:17:41.142 --> 00:17:41.801
Top corner.
00:17:42.221 --> 00:17:42.942
What's behind it?
00:17:42.942 --> 00:17:46.842
Well, you make the athlete in the gym, you make the goalkeeper on the grass.
00:17:47.112 --> 00:17:47.352
Yep.
00:17:47.442 --> 00:17:48.461
That hasn't changed.
00:17:48.791 --> 00:17:50.082
What has changed is the amount of.
00:17:51.642 --> 00:17:56.352
People that are got into sports science now from all different domains and you look and go, wow.
00:17:56.501 --> 00:17:57.731
Experience that they've got.
00:17:57.821 --> 00:17:59.711
But again, they understand the game.
00:18:00.132 --> 00:18:00.311
Yeah.
00:18:00.551 --> 00:18:07.632
So I keep saying to coaches, why did you do that warmup when it or no relationship to the actual session you just coached?
00:18:08.261 --> 00:18:09.582
So your preparation has to be thorough.
00:18:10.422 --> 00:18:12.701
Do you plan, do you do the coaching?
00:18:13.571 --> 00:18:15.251
Biggest thing in coaching, do you review?
00:18:16.392 --> 00:18:16.872
Excuse me.
00:18:16.961 --> 00:18:17.592
A lot of'em don't.
00:18:17.951 --> 00:18:18.251
Yep.
00:18:19.481 --> 00:18:29.842
And I guess then with that in mind, you've worked with, and we haven't, really gone into this yet in the intro, what you've worked with some of the biggest names in football and certainly in goalkeeping.
00:18:30.311 --> 00:18:33.392
So Van Der Sar, David David de Gea.
00:18:33.692 --> 00:18:35.047
Ben Foster...
00:18:35.047 --> 00:18:36.696
peter Schmeichel for crying out loud.
00:18:38.406 --> 00:18:38.797
look.
00:18:41.061 --> 00:18:49.551
the boy fan in me, sitting here, just like, I've got so many questions that I could, we, I could literally keep you here all night asking questions about even just Schmeichel on his own.
00:18:50.692 --> 00:18:53.751
one of my boyhood heroes as we were discussing before the podcast.
00:18:53.751 --> 00:19:04.281
But in your mind, what, separates the, truly world-class elite from really good goalkeepers that we might see every day?
00:19:04.281 --> 00:19:05.207
What's, what separates that?
00:19:05.207 --> 00:19:06.531
What separates, what's that extra level?
00:19:06.561 --> 00:19:06.652
What?
00:19:06.652 --> 00:19:10.321
Well, there's the good and the great They have something special.
00:19:11.082 --> 00:19:14.241
So I was fortunate to work with Peter, Edwin Van Der Sar..
00:19:15.801 --> 00:19:19.882
So Peter was, as you would see if he walked in this room, now he's got a physical presence.
00:19:19.882 --> 00:19:23.602
Everybody thinks his shoulders, he deliberately walks with his shoulder.
00:19:23.632 --> 00:19:24.922
No, he was born that way.
00:19:25.612 --> 00:19:32.932
And bear in mind, if you actually have a look at Peter and look at some of the documentaries being done, everybody says about now the growth.
00:19:33.471 --> 00:19:35.001
Oh, my boy's going to be, you know what?
00:19:35.001 --> 00:19:37.731
While his granddad was 6'4 Okay, good.
00:19:37.731 --> 00:19:37.942
Yeah.
00:19:38.346 --> 00:19:38.797
He's done.
00:19:38.797 --> 00:19:40.116
There's only 6'2 Yeah.
00:19:40.237 --> 00:19:40.567
Okay.
00:19:40.567 --> 00:19:47.376
Now there's various ways you can do now to find medically To give you a really good 98% Correct.
00:19:47.707 --> 00:19:53.257
Which I used at Man United to say to 13 year olds, 15 year olds, we're going to do this procedure.
00:19:53.557 --> 00:19:57.876
This will give us an idea because in the end, if you get the 15, we don't want to disappoint you and hurt you.
00:19:58.507 --> 00:20:01.326
You're better off going off at 13 and going and learn other sports.
00:20:01.356 --> 00:20:01.656
Yep.
00:20:02.346 --> 00:20:18.277
But Peter had this unbelievable presence about, and he was physical, but he also was, because he was the one that always berated, had a right go, he'd make the save and it'd be somebody else's fault because they didn't stop the cross coming Or Steve Bruce would get stick because he hadn't marked the attacker.
00:20:18.787 --> 00:20:18.936
Yeah.
00:20:18.936 --> 00:20:21.666
So Steve Bruce would turn and said, well, that's your job to save it anyway, Peter.
00:20:22.656 --> 00:20:26.977
But everything he did was for the benefit of the team.
00:20:27.487 --> 00:20:29.297
Everybody thought it was all about him, it wasn't.
00:20:30.146 --> 00:20:37.267
That was that was the, show that, deep down Peter Schmeichel was, he knew how to be a major part of that team.
00:20:37.852 --> 00:20:41.721
Physical presence, the actual talking that he would do.
00:20:42.291 --> 00:20:46.642
When I was with him at, Villa, he, I never realised I got in the dress room.
00:20:46.642 --> 00:20:49.281
He actually made, he went round the back four as we played.
00:20:49.281 --> 00:20:56.662
Then he made them feel a million dollars, and then they knew if anything gets past you, I'll be there.
00:20:57.142 --> 00:20:57.592
Yep.
00:20:57.801 --> 00:20:59.961
So he is to say, and we had a classic moment.
00:21:00.501 --> 00:21:05.061
We had the, we had him as a guest on the, the FA's conference, goalkeeper conference at st.
00:21:05.061 --> 00:21:05.571
George's.
00:21:06.291 --> 00:21:07.162
And it's been going well.
00:21:07.162 --> 00:21:08.362
And he is presented everything else.
00:21:08.362 --> 00:21:10.311
He, well now take questions from the floor.
00:21:10.971 --> 00:21:14.451
So he's answered a few about, you know, so when you start it, he played the handball.
00:21:14.451 --> 00:21:21.291
This was the big shape, which the core, now the X, which is ridiculous, but it was actually, this was the big shape that he Yeah.
00:21:21.321 --> 00:21:22.461
He learned that in handball.
00:21:22.521 --> 00:21:25.001
He transferred that to his goalkeeper.
00:21:26.071 --> 00:21:31.041
So then somebody turned around and said, Peter, question, how did you deal with mistakes?
00:21:31.971 --> 00:21:34.582
So there was, you know, and there's a, pause, Paul.
00:21:34.642 --> 00:21:35.031
Yeah.
00:21:35.092 --> 00:21:36.531
Pause for like five seconds.
00:21:39.436 --> 00:21:41.961
I went, I didn't make mistakes.
00:21:44.576 --> 00:21:49.672
And you had three 50 people and the order went exactly the same as you said, I didn't make mistakes.
00:21:50.057 --> 00:21:50.277
No.
00:21:51.442 --> 00:21:54.626
And in the end, that was the confidence and assurance that he had.
00:21:54.817 --> 00:21:55.027
And
00:21:55.277 --> 00:21:58.432
he had that special ability and he did make unbelievable saves.
00:21:58.701 --> 00:22:03.501
Edwin was the gentleman on and off the field and his, phrase was always the same.
00:22:03.531 --> 00:22:05.392
I want to be the calmest man on the field.
00:22:06.051 --> 00:22:07.971
He was also the calmest man off the field.
00:22:08.481 --> 00:22:09.471
Total respect.
00:22:09.501 --> 00:22:19.041
When I used to see, when I used to see the reaction of other goalkeepers and players end the game to go and shake hands with Van Der Sar, that was a total respect.
00:22:19.311 --> 00:22:23.211
And he was an all round goalkeeper, unbeliev, everybody would know.
00:22:23.271 --> 00:22:25.221
He was 15 before he became a goalkeeper.
00:22:25.251 --> 00:22:26.071
He was at Ajax.
00:22:26.092 --> 00:22:26.961
He was a center half.
00:22:27.112 --> 00:22:27.352
Yeah.
00:22:27.382 --> 00:22:27.652
Wow.
00:22:27.741 --> 00:22:29.422
Did that help him in the way he played?
00:22:29.662 --> 00:22:33.021
Because he was the one out of the three that had this unbelievable ability.
00:22:33.696 --> 00:22:36.727
To be the calmest man on the field when the ball came back.
00:22:37.027 --> 00:22:39.906
So like now where we're all talking about the keepers have to have this and that.
00:22:40.237 --> 00:22:41.106
Edwin was a natural.
00:22:42.166 --> 00:22:47.136
But he also had this presence about him that he would calm and he'd make saves in a really calm way.
00:22:47.166 --> 00:22:54.186
He'd get up, make the save, he might probably touch Ev patch he ever walk past and go, great, save whatever.
00:22:54.817 --> 00:22:55.896
It would be very gentle.
00:22:56.227 --> 00:22:58.326
Next thing would be right, we've gotta deal with the corner.
00:22:59.317 --> 00:23:00.307
Then we go to David.
00:23:01.567 --> 00:23:07.656
David was obviously, I helped bring him in under De Sar, who always believed in young players.
00:23:08.136 --> 00:23:11.287
He'd never really brought a young goalkeeper at 19, 20 years of age.
00:23:12.997 --> 00:23:16.747
but we brought him in'cause we knew he was a supreme talent.
00:23:16.807 --> 00:23:26.797
And I did, I watched him 17 times live over 18 months, and we needed to have somebody that was going to follow Van Der Sar and people forget this.
00:23:27.007 --> 00:23:28.086
What a job that was.
00:23:28.086 --> 00:23:28.807
What a task.
00:23:29.481 --> 00:23:33.142
What about the task for the poor person had to take over from Peter Schmale in 19 nine?
00:23:33.166 --> 00:23:33.862
Huge shoes to fill.
00:23:33.862 --> 00:23:34.221
Yeah.
00:23:34.432 --> 00:23:37.352
15 goalkeepers they used before they brought Edwin in.
00:23:37.426 --> 00:23:42.291
In 2004, Edwin went 2004 to 2011.
00:23:42.291 --> 00:23:43.102
Then David came in.
00:23:43.432 --> 00:23:46.971
David straight away had a massive shoes and gloves to fill.
00:23:47.481 --> 00:23:52.652
Edwin Van der Sar, his hero, which I never knew was David's hero, was Peter Schmeichel.
00:23:53.301 --> 00:24:01.332
And I only found out when I was doing the, I was doing a special presentation and actually spoke to his, spoke to his teacher in Spain.
00:24:01.821 --> 00:24:17.511
cause I'd learned Spanish knowing he was coming in and we got the same professor to teach him English, which was an absolute scream because we used to have an agreement once a month we'd go out for a meal and he would have to order his meal in English.
00:24:18.051 --> 00:24:21.261
And I had order my meal in Spanish and we had the professor there.
00:24:21.471 --> 00:24:21.531
Yeah.
00:24:21.951 --> 00:24:23.751
It was chaos, but it was good.
00:24:23.751 --> 00:24:25.672
But that's, and he had all of us to contend with.
00:24:25.731 --> 00:24:27.622
He couldn't drive when he came to Manchester.
00:24:28.192 --> 00:24:29.991
So he took all of that on?
00:24:29.991 --> 00:24:30.261
Yes.
00:24:30.261 --> 00:24:31.882
It was a tough start, but we knew that.
00:24:32.182 --> 00:24:41.031
But the great man had every confidence and we went to always remember it went to Chelsea early December.
00:24:41.362 --> 00:24:48.622
One matter who was a really good friend of his in the Spanish National, put the ball over the top of the wall, three steps, top hand, pushes it out.
00:24:49.251 --> 00:24:55.041
We draw the game three three, we're walking down the tunnel and Sir Alex says, Steely, we've got a goalkeeper.
00:24:55.642 --> 00:24:56.122
Just walked on.
00:24:57.201 --> 00:24:58.342
And that was the beginning.
00:24:58.912 --> 00:25:04.551
So then he won everything at Man United Bar Champions League, 550 games.
00:25:05.092 --> 00:25:07.942
So he was, a special, talent.
00:25:07.942 --> 00:25:10.372
But again, calm, nothing phased him.
00:25:10.821 --> 00:25:12.686
Nothing fa and that's what the greats do.
00:25:13.527 --> 00:25:14.606
That's what the greats do.
00:25:17.211 --> 00:25:25.132
So, you know, you've, been, noted as saying that was a, an education working with, Edwin at Man United.
00:25:25.402 --> 00:25:26.241
Is, that kind of.
00:25:27.201 --> 00:25:34.971
How, did that shape how you coached future goalkeepers, having worked with him in that time when he was just kind of coming through and then through to his peak?
00:25:35.662 --> 00:25:37.791
What, lessons did you take for the younger keepers from that?
00:25:37.971 --> 00:25:46.432
I think the, probably the most successful part of my was I was a good listener as a coach, which always say the people listen and I've kept diaries.
00:25:46.432 --> 00:25:56.192
I've got in my loft at home, I've got diaries, I've got every session I've coached over 40 years and it's, I've transferred some to computer, which you can do now.
00:25:56.721 --> 00:26:01.521
such, but what I've al always believed in that you have to, don't be afraid to ask.
00:26:01.521 --> 00:26:03.261
I said it earlier, don't be afraid to ask.
00:26:03.261 --> 00:26:13.942
And the best thing I did was I took, when I was at Derby, when I started there, I had Mark Poom and Lee Grant, who's now manager, Huddersfield Lee Camp, who went on to make record appearances.
00:26:13.942 --> 00:26:17.031
I had him as 11-year-old putting him in the team.
00:26:17.811 --> 00:26:23.836
And I then I left there and I went to Aston Villa and I've got Peter and I've got, then I've got Thomas Sørensen.
00:26:24.442 --> 00:26:29.501
But the one thing that it gave me is that experience of being working under Jim Smith, Steve McClaren.
00:26:30.682 --> 00:26:36.652
Then I went to Villa and worked with, John Gregory, who I played with at Brighton and Derby.
00:26:37.551 --> 00:26:42.402
And then I went from there to Man City with Sven Goran.
00:26:43.162 --> 00:26:51.051
So by the time I got to United, thank goodness I'd been through three different real terrific coaches, man management people.
00:26:52.041 --> 00:26:59.511
And I don't think I would've had as much success in my coaching career if I hadn't listened and learned during, through that process.
00:26:59.781 --> 00:27:00.592
So I'll go back to it.
00:27:00.592 --> 00:27:01.221
I made mistake.
00:27:01.281 --> 00:27:07.372
But the one thing I learned, and Peter always remembers this, my first meeting with Peter as I turned and I said to him, what do you need?
00:27:08.301 --> 00:27:10.821
Oh my God, you are the first coach that's ever asked me.
00:27:11.002 --> 00:27:15.051
My old coach always say, why do you open your legs and your arms and you come like this?
00:27:15.142 --> 00:27:16.642
And I said, you?
00:27:16.852 --> 00:27:17.481
I said, no.
00:27:17.751 --> 00:27:18.291
What can I do?
00:27:18.382 --> 00:27:19.311
I want to know what do you need?
00:27:19.342 --> 00:27:19.612
What do?
00:27:20.182 --> 00:27:22.221
And he was coming to an end of a career.
00:27:22.701 --> 00:27:24.321
So he needed his body being managed.
00:27:24.321 --> 00:27:26.241
So we went through stuff and said, yeah, no problem.
00:27:26.585 --> 00:27:29.422
We can do that pre, we can do it post.
00:27:30.051 --> 00:27:32.001
There's no need for you sometimes to be out.
00:27:32.422 --> 00:27:35.692
You could have the morning, the gym where you on a stretch program, whatever, with the physios.
00:27:36.172 --> 00:27:37.011
And that was why.
00:27:37.011 --> 00:27:42.511
And that really, I carried that through my, to my man city days when I worked with Joe Hart and Kasper.
00:27:42.561 --> 00:27:43.701
Schmeichel, very similar.
00:27:44.122 --> 00:27:45.382
So Joe, you're 20 now.
00:27:45.442 --> 00:27:45.892
Kasper's.
00:27:45.991 --> 00:27:47.122
Kasper's 20.
00:27:47.122 --> 00:27:50.662
You are 19 What do you need, Steely I just want to keep training.
00:27:50.662 --> 00:27:51.711
I just love training.
00:27:51.862 --> 00:27:53.811
Joe would train from morning to night.
00:27:54.201 --> 00:27:54.412
Yeah.
00:27:54.442 --> 00:27:58.301
So you had to calm him down kasper, as I said, he wanted certain things within training.
00:27:58.852 --> 00:28:00.021
That you had to provide.
00:28:00.561 --> 00:28:09.382
So I was lucky that, again, because I'd been told to coach early, I had a lot of them lessons put into me when I was 18, 20.
00:28:09.382 --> 00:28:10.761
And I was playing at the same time.
00:28:11.301 --> 00:28:18.682
So that was the big, I think the people, and I've been asked this before and people said to me, so do you think you are a, you're a better coach than you were a goalkeeper?
00:28:19.102 --> 00:28:21.892
And I go, you're probably, yeah, you're probably right.
00:28:22.912 --> 00:28:28.971
So as much as I've won six promotions, played for my country, thoroughly enjoyed my playing career.
00:28:28.971 --> 00:28:41.001
But when I look at what I did and achieved, I mean, football's given me, I've been fortunate football to play in a sport that's given me a living for 50, 52 years and I've been proud of that.
00:28:41.001 --> 00:28:43.071
I've being able to pay to stay, fit and play.
00:28:43.913 --> 00:28:47.451
So when I get people mourning about it, I think give over.
00:28:47.541 --> 00:29:01.342
You mean the people would give, the people that come into now the stadium alike, the people go into the Samara of the North in James Park, they would give anything to have a year, a month, or a lot of the professional footballers have.
00:29:01.551 --> 00:29:02.991
So I never took it for granted.
00:29:03.412 --> 00:29:15.471
And I always looked upon it as, and somebody said to me, you asked me earlier, the answer to the question was somebody who was a gentleman called Alan Hodgkinson, who played for Sheffield United, England, he found Schmeichel for Sir Alex.
00:29:16.311 --> 00:29:18.031
He also helped me find de Gea.
00:29:19.116 --> 00:29:21.727
And he played for Sheffield United, England, not the biggest.
00:29:21.727 --> 00:29:22.406
5'10".
00:29:23.196 --> 00:29:26.047
So he got told many, times, you're not big enough.
00:29:26.737 --> 00:29:30.636
He just turned around with his Good Yorkshire accent and go, yeah, but I'm going to be good enough.
00:29:31.656 --> 00:29:33.876
And he was Now, he was my first goal.
00:29:33.906 --> 00:29:36.661
He was my first real Goalkeeping coach.
00:29:36.787 --> 00:29:37.326
25.
00:29:37.326 --> 00:29:39.661
I played over 200 games before I got a proper coach.
00:29:40.237 --> 00:29:44.136
Had great help at the boys club, but they literally have a book under their arm.
00:29:44.196 --> 00:29:48.817
Yeah, open the book and go, right, we're going to do, but at least to try this was Peter Kirtley again.
00:29:48.967 --> 00:29:50.767
Yeah, And I valued that.
00:29:50.767 --> 00:29:53.467
He actually took that time and he was, it was Alan Wade.
00:29:53.767 --> 00:29:55.656
Nobody had, that was the only book he could get.
00:29:55.656 --> 00:30:00.126
Then now you can go online, you can get whatever you want in whatever you want from anywhere in the world.
00:30:00.817 --> 00:30:03.457
But somebody then a good friend of mine, turned and said, you know what?
00:30:03.457 --> 00:30:05.376
He said You'd make a really good coach.
00:30:06.336 --> 00:30:13.057
He said, but specialise So I never wanted to be a manager, and that was really very much my way.
00:30:13.057 --> 00:30:15.457
I've still worked as assistant.
00:30:15.517 --> 00:30:16.356
No problem at all.
00:30:16.836 --> 00:30:22.596
But at the time my, somebody told me 25, 26, and I was working with Alan, he went"Steely, you'd make you a great coach.
00:30:23.106 --> 00:30:25.007
'cause you know, eventually we're going to win.
00:30:25.207 --> 00:30:29.406
We're going to be full-time." So end of the nineties we enter to 2000.
00:30:29.916 --> 00:30:31.957
That's when the full-time coaches start to come in.
00:30:32.707 --> 00:30:33.186
I love it.
00:30:33.517 --> 00:30:33.936
I love it.
00:30:34.211 --> 00:30:38.406
there's again, there's just, there's so many questions I could ask.
00:30:39.797 --> 00:30:44.457
One story I do want to hear though, it's Ben Foster and an iPod.
00:30:45.057 --> 00:30:45.297
Oh
00:30:45.596 --> 00:30:45.777
yeah.
00:30:46.616 --> 00:30:48.326
It's the early Jordan Pickford, isn't it?
00:30:48.507 --> 00:30:48.777
Yeah.
00:30:49.076 --> 00:30:49.646
Tell me about it.
00:30:49.676 --> 00:30:50.126
What happened?
00:30:50.967 --> 00:30:56.817
Right, so we've we're at Man United and we had something I'd never experienced until I got to Man United.
00:30:56.906 --> 00:31:11.576
We had a rotation system in my first year, 2008, 2009 season, because we had Edwin Van der Sar, Ben Foster, Tomasz Kuszczak, Ben Foster had been away, been on loan, done really well, was being playing for England.
00:31:11.696 --> 00:31:14.217
So he was playing some like 16 to 20 games.
00:31:14.606 --> 00:31:18.086
Because then Man United the way they were at the moment, it's not that way.
00:31:18.086 --> 00:31:19.676
We're hoping they're going to get back to that.
00:31:20.277 --> 00:31:22.826
You would expect to be a 65, 70 game season.
00:31:23.457 --> 00:31:26.487
There's no way we were going to ask Edward at his age to play.
00:31:26.727 --> 00:31:29.426
So we used to actually something I'd never done, Paul.
00:31:30.356 --> 00:31:42.596
So I would go into SO'S office always the first Monday of the month, seven o'clock in the morning, walk in and he'd have the flip charts and he'd pick the teams for every game we've got that month.
00:31:43.257 --> 00:31:49.856
So he'd turn out to me and my job was to give an opinion when asked, as I said, his job was to make the big decisions.
00:31:49.856 --> 00:31:50.967
That's why he got the big books.
00:31:51.267 --> 00:31:51.446
Yeah.
00:31:51.626 --> 00:31:53.717
But he turned and say, Steve, we're going to be playing Tottenham.
00:31:53.817 --> 00:31:54.836
Who do you think you would play?
00:31:55.317 --> 00:31:56.217
I'd play Co that way.
00:31:56.217 --> 00:31:56.817
Oh, foster.
00:31:56.817 --> 00:31:57.446
They'd be fine.
00:31:58.047 --> 00:31:58.376
Right.
00:31:58.406 --> 00:31:58.737
Okay.
00:31:58.767 --> 00:31:59.007
Boom.
00:31:59.067 --> 00:32:00.297
Now what about midweek?
00:32:00.777 --> 00:32:01.227
Oh, midweek.
00:32:01.227 --> 00:32:02.757
We're playing portal away.
00:32:03.987 --> 00:32:05.817
I'm going to play Ronaldo through the middle.
00:32:06.116 --> 00:32:07.227
Nobody else knows.
00:32:07.346 --> 00:32:07.586
Yep.
00:32:07.616 --> 00:32:09.446
When you new play, Edwin.
00:32:09.477 --> 00:32:11.366
'cause we might have to take the sting outta the game.
00:32:11.366 --> 00:32:12.446
They're going to come at us.
00:32:12.747 --> 00:32:13.561
So we went through all that.
00:32:14.307 --> 00:32:19.930
But Ben played with Couza games as well as the Carl and Cook Games.
00:32:20.067 --> 00:32:29.007
So Ben gets to Wembley against Spurs and we, as we did my preparation, was always prepared to say, right, if it goes to penalties, don't worry.
00:32:29.426 --> 00:32:33.717
What we did then was, I mean now they can have a computer sitting in the dugout, two of them.
00:32:33.717 --> 00:32:38.277
One either end, yeah, in the dugout areas now, but at the time, no, you weren't allowed that.
00:32:38.876 --> 00:32:44.576
So all we did was I sat down with the analyst, we went through and we said, right, this is what's this?
00:32:44.576 --> 00:32:46.166
This is going to be the penalty takers.
00:32:46.467 --> 00:32:47.396
We need to get ready.
00:32:47.666 --> 00:32:55.616
I said, tell you what, then I'm not going to be able to grab you if you are going to be up the, on the actual, in the director's box where you're looking after all the filming of it.
00:32:55.811 --> 00:32:58.886
'cause it didn't matter whether it was Sky, B, C, whatever.
00:32:59.096 --> 00:33:00.416
We'd still have our own cameras there.
00:33:01.017 --> 00:33:01.737
So I said, no problem.
00:33:01.737 --> 00:33:02.307
I said, tell you what to do.
00:33:02.307 --> 00:33:03.207
We'll get the penalties.
00:33:03.237 --> 00:33:05.366
So we worked through, we'd put'em all on the iPod.
00:33:06.027 --> 00:33:09.176
So I, people realised we're getting a nil full time.
00:33:09.717 --> 00:33:12.656
So full time we get a break before we go into the extra time.
00:33:12.717 --> 00:33:13.527
It was then.
00:33:13.946 --> 00:33:17.277
I went to Ben and said, Ben, have a look now at the penalties.
00:33:17.906 --> 00:33:22.557
So I always remember Edwin was in the tunnel at Wembley with me, and he was there going steel.
00:33:22.557 --> 00:33:23.271
Yeah, I like that.
00:33:23.271 --> 00:33:23.307
I like that.
00:33:23.846 --> 00:33:25.646
So we were on the iPod and I said to Ben, go on.
00:33:26.217 --> 00:33:26.936
Going off two minutes.
00:33:26.936 --> 00:33:29.696
The referee said, it's three minutes before we start exit time.
00:33:29.846 --> 00:33:35.757
So he went off, looked at them all, get to the end of the game of which he won, man of the match.
00:33:35.936 --> 00:33:40.047
And Capella, actually, the England manager, gave him the man of the match trophy.
00:33:40.737 --> 00:33:50.696
But what happened was we got to the penalties and one of the ones that, Jamie O'Hara, who was on Sky every other day, now, I'd seen him play for the under 20 ones, 10 days earlier.
00:33:51.267 --> 00:33:53.876
And I said to Ben, I said, tell you what, it's not on the iPod.
00:33:53.936 --> 00:33:56.480
Jamie O'Hara, if he takes the panic, they'll go to your right.
00:33:57.386 --> 00:33:58.916
That's the only one you gotta remember.
00:33:59.666 --> 00:33:59.967
Brilliant.
00:34:02.156 --> 00:34:03.027
Getting the panic shoot out.
00:34:03.866 --> 00:34:11.271
Jamie O'Hara comes up left footed, Ben goes, bang, and they won the Carling Cup they go Mad.
00:34:11.592 --> 00:34:13.842
The next day, Tottenham are going mad.
00:34:14.501 --> 00:34:15.101
It's illegal.
00:34:15.552 --> 00:34:19.092
The appeal to the fa they said, FA, are you sure there's illegal?
00:34:19.632 --> 00:34:20.621
There was no direction.
00:34:21.012 --> 00:34:27.663
So I got known as the iPod King, and then people tried to knock me down and say, what you doing that's cheating?
00:34:27.762 --> 00:34:28.931
And I said, how's it cheating?
00:34:29.291 --> 00:34:31.331
All I'm doing is I can't take a big computer.
00:34:31.391 --> 00:34:39.911
So it was the iPod and I've still got the shirt in my study at home to steely from Ben Foster, the iPod King signed Ben.
00:34:39.942 --> 00:34:40.541
Amazing.
00:34:40.692 --> 00:34:44.231
And that really, it, it, took, it was two, three weeks.
00:34:44.231 --> 00:34:46.961
He going grow up, get on with it.
00:34:47.802 --> 00:34:51.731
But when you look now, crikey me, you know, they put things on the bottles.
00:34:52.121 --> 00:34:53.532
They put things on their wrists.
00:34:53.532 --> 00:34:56.202
The girls tend to want to do it on their wrists or their arms.
00:34:56.262 --> 00:34:56.592
Yeah.
00:34:56.831 --> 00:34:58.302
Jordan brilliant.
00:34:58.362 --> 00:35:00.132
Puts him on his water bottle.
00:35:00.791 --> 00:35:02.172
If it does the job, it does the job.
00:35:02.172 --> 00:35:09.731
But that's really now how thorough, and you look at it, nothing, it's only, it's like one percent's 2%.
00:35:10.362 --> 00:35:14.262
It's still about the performance, but that detail might not be one 2%.
00:35:14.442 --> 00:35:14.592
Yeah.
00:35:14.621 --> 00:35:16.632
Could be the one 2% that wins you the car and cup.
00:35:17.262 --> 00:35:18.851
What did Sir Alex think of all that?
00:35:19.032 --> 00:35:20.081
Nobody knew we were doing it.
00:35:21.492 --> 00:35:22.541
Nobody knew we were doing it.
00:35:22.601 --> 00:35:23.512
Didn't have a Scooby doo.
00:35:23.952 --> 00:35:27.012
Two, three days somebody walked in the press office and said, Hey, steeley's getting stick.
00:35:27.702 --> 00:35:27.911
What?
00:35:27.911 --> 00:35:32.141
I thought he's a Geordie, that's why I said no, I'm not getting stick for being a Geordie.
00:35:33.172 --> 00:35:36.942
Can you imagine the Geordie Scotsman talk about the Hadrian's wall that used to come up regular?
00:35:36.942 --> 00:35:37.271
Yeah.
00:35:37.271 --> 00:35:37.282
Yeah.
00:35:37.331 --> 00:35:39.402
Because I used to say to him, we only built Hadrian's wall.
00:35:39.402 --> 00:35:40.391
That was to stop the English.
00:35:40.391 --> 00:35:41.621
Thinking about going over that way.
00:35:42.851 --> 00:35:44.802
So he used to say, you, you gimme that.
00:35:44.817 --> 00:35:48.641
And he, and in the end that's where he said, I've never heard of any of that.
00:35:48.702 --> 00:35:50.231
Never even knew for three days.
00:35:50.231 --> 00:35:52.302
And the press office said, oh, steely is getting a bit of flack.
00:35:53.411 --> 00:35:58.092
It's probably'cause he's a Geordie But in the end now we just moved on and then the game's moved on.
00:35:58.211 --> 00:35:58.422
Now.
00:35:58.512 --> 00:35:58.961
Yeah.
00:35:59.081 --> 00:36:04.661
Where crikey me, you can come and watch everything VAR, which means very average response.
00:36:05.262 --> 00:36:06.806
In my mind, I think it's,
00:36:06.806 --> 00:36:09.461
I've got no complaints after this weekend, but I can't talk about that right now.
00:36:09.461 --> 00:36:10.081
It's a game Killer.
00:36:10.311 --> 00:36:11.302
I think it's a game Killer.
00:36:11.322 --> 00:36:11.681
It is.
00:36:12.251 --> 00:36:12.882
I really agree.
00:36:12.942 --> 00:36:13.452
I agree.
00:36:13.572 --> 00:36:15.072
I feel for fans that
00:36:15.641 --> 00:36:20.291
we, so we, without going in particulars, we, are celebrating the goal.
00:36:20.891 --> 00:36:22.181
We're, obviously it's three o'clock game.
00:36:22.572 --> 00:36:32.411
We're, we've got it on the radio, we're celebrating the goal, and then all of a sudden the commentator stops like, oh, we, we, there's an offside check.
00:36:32.472 --> 00:36:33.072
There's an offside check.
00:36:33.342 --> 00:36:35.802
It definitely wasn't offside, but we all know we're all sat at home.
00:36:35.802 --> 00:36:38.141
We all know it doesn't matter whether it was offside or it wasn't offside.
00:36:38.141 --> 00:36:39.942
It's all down to what the computer thinks it is.
00:36:40.541 --> 00:36:44.771
And all of a sudden the celebrations have to stop in the house while we all sit and wait for the radio.
00:36:46.422 --> 00:36:47.592
and then it comes back, oh yeah, it's a goal.
00:36:47.592 --> 00:36:48.072
Let's go.
00:36:48.282 --> 00:36:50.592
And you then you're like kind of half celebrating.
00:36:50.592 --> 00:36:50.952
It's like, yeah.
00:36:51.382 --> 00:36:53.052
I thought it was a couple of minutes ago.
00:36:53.206 --> 00:36:53.407
you know,
00:36:53.427 --> 00:36:53.646
and
00:36:53.652 --> 00:36:53.802
think
00:36:53.802 --> 00:36:54.012
about
00:36:54.012 --> 00:37:00.942
when you're in the stadium, fans don't celebrate as such now because straightaway they go, oh, this'll be, this is a bit dodgy.
00:37:00.942 --> 00:37:01.541
Whatever.
00:37:02.081 --> 00:37:03.521
And the don't celebrate as they used to do.
00:37:03.911 --> 00:37:05.021
We had games last year.
00:37:05.021 --> 00:37:07.811
The average time I think was around 97, 98 minute.
00:37:07.842 --> 00:37:09.431
The games in the Premier League last year.
00:37:10.331 --> 00:37:12.342
Now that was not why it was set up.
00:37:12.822 --> 00:37:17.262
When they set up in America and the trial it in the MLS and the MLS, they actually have the screen.
00:37:17.472 --> 00:37:20.021
They used to send them the referee straight away.
00:37:20.262 --> 00:37:20.771
There's a doubt.
00:37:20.802 --> 00:37:22.152
Straight in the air bump, there's a doubt.
00:37:22.152 --> 00:37:22.961
Go the screen.
00:37:23.411 --> 00:37:29.742
We don't, we go that while they're go Stockley Park and they talk through it, the walk through it, everything else crack, get in.
00:37:29.742 --> 00:37:32.262
They need an iPod and then a quicker they had my iPod.
00:37:33.012 --> 00:37:33.461
And it does.
00:37:33.461 --> 00:37:37.242
And I think it's done nothing, for me, for the benefit of the game.
00:37:37.302 --> 00:37:38.262
We've got a great product.
00:37:38.291 --> 00:37:47.891
Why do we love Everybody in the world loves the Premier League because it's so diverse that you can have a result where you can have the bottom team can beat the top team.
00:37:48.282 --> 00:37:50.472
There's so many different styles, everything else.
00:37:50.831 --> 00:37:53.657
But the one thing that really is spoiling at times is the ar.
00:37:54.672 --> 00:37:55.692
We've got that off our chest, haven't we?
00:37:56.711 --> 00:37:58.422
Well, that's, part of it though, right?
00:37:58.422 --> 00:38:03.371
Like that's That's part of the, changes in the game that you'll have seen from, back in the day.
00:38:03.371 --> 00:38:03.851
And it's,
00:38:03.942 --> 00:38:06.612
oh, well I've seen the changes that have affected goalkeepers.
00:38:07.422 --> 00:38:12.581
Four seconds now we've got eight seconds for Otherwise you get the corner given against you.
00:38:13.181 --> 00:38:13.541
Right?
00:38:13.541 --> 00:38:13.692
Yeah.
00:38:13.692 --> 00:38:18.942
So we've done the, we've done the back pass rule, we've now got the center halves in the 18 yard box.
00:38:19.601 --> 00:38:22.751
We've had the four sec, it was used to be four second rule when I played.
00:38:22.751 --> 00:38:22.762
Yeah.
00:38:23.262 --> 00:38:23.442
Yeah.
00:38:24.101 --> 00:38:27.702
and now all of a sudden we're on eight seconds and yet the referee starts counting down.
00:38:27.702 --> 00:38:28.032
Counting down, yeah.
00:38:28.092 --> 00:38:29.262
Then you give a corner away.
00:38:30.762 --> 00:38:35.862
Now invention of doing leave the game is what it is, what people want to see.
00:38:36.161 --> 00:38:37.992
We could have just enforced the rules that we put in place.
00:38:37.992 --> 00:38:38.652
The first place.
00:38:39.222 --> 00:38:39.342
Yeah,
00:38:39.342 --> 00:38:39.641
exactly.
00:38:42.342 --> 00:38:50.231
so along with having worked with some of the most amazing keepers in the world, you've also, as you've already pointed out, worked with some of the most amazing managers in the world as well.
00:38:51.641 --> 00:38:54.822
Sir Alex Ferguson, Steve McClaren, many, others.
00:38:56.141 --> 00:39:04.902
How did you find that you had to adapt your, goalkeeper coaching based on who the manager was, what, was, you know, what went on behind the scenes,
00:39:05.681 --> 00:39:06.702
obviously, when you're employed?
00:39:06.702 --> 00:39:14.952
The first thing I always say that, and I advise the coaches to do the same as I, I'd go in, whether it be Jim Smith, the Bald Eagle, when he, bless his heart, he was at Newcastle.
00:39:14.952 --> 00:39:22.181
He was, and obviously I worked with him at, Derby Graham Taylor, John Gregory, David O'Leary, Sven Goran.
00:39:22.541 --> 00:39:28.902
The one thing, the first conversation I would always have after the interview I've been given the job was I needed to know what was the philosophy of the head coach?
00:39:29.621 --> 00:39:30.266
What's, your beliefs?
00:39:30.311 --> 00:39:31.601
How do you want to play the game?
00:39:32.501 --> 00:39:36.791
What can I do working with the goalkeepers to help the team?
00:39:37.242 --> 00:39:40.632
So everything was not about the goalkeepers in isolation, it was for me.
00:39:40.992 --> 00:39:44.172
So my, my always first port of call was to speak to head coaches.
00:39:44.862 --> 00:39:47.711
Some were very receptive, some would say, but just get on with the job.
00:39:47.711 --> 00:39:48.521
You know what you gotta do,
00:39:48.851 --> 00:39:49.181
fine.
00:39:50.007 --> 00:39:51.927
But others would say, yeah, I want them involved.
00:39:52.347 --> 00:40:00.387
So like now the modern coach, but like we've done today, on these HQ sessions for Evo is that, that's what that was about.
00:40:00.416 --> 00:40:04.496
Just to show'em how we should interact more with the outfield coaches.
00:40:04.856 --> 00:40:12.567
Something I had a fantastic five years working at Man United where Sir Alex wasn't involved in the day-to-day sessions.
00:40:12.567 --> 00:40:21.717
He would always be there, but he left that to his assistant manager, Mick Phelan and his first team coach, René Meulensteen and myself, sports science and the doctor.
00:40:22.106 --> 00:40:26.246
So there was constant meetings on planning doing, would review in the afternoons.
00:40:26.786 --> 00:40:32.007
And that really was my philosophy, which again, I was taught very early on in Hodgkinson back to him.
00:40:32.666 --> 00:40:36.536
Steely, just find out what, does the manager want, what does the head coach need?
00:40:36.867 --> 00:40:38.306
Is he going to be very direct?
00:40:38.336 --> 00:40:44.367
If you watch when Peter played Peter had ever played in the year we've got now where he could, like his son's had to learn how to play.
00:40:44.367 --> 00:40:47.277
Peter was used to, he was the best counter attacker.
00:40:48.731 --> 00:40:49.452
In the game.
00:40:49.632 --> 00:40:49.811
Yeah.
00:40:50.021 --> 00:40:52.902
Not with his feet, with his ability to throw.
00:40:52.961 --> 00:40:53.202
Yeah.
00:40:53.981 --> 00:41:03.552
So I always remember when I got to Villa, Graham Taylor took over temporarily for three months and he said, we've got to utilize the best counter attacking goalkeeper in the world.
00:41:04.302 --> 00:41:12.101
And it was to do with Peter and I have, I've, got videos of him where he sets up Ole Gunnar Solskjær throw, unbelievable.
00:41:12.581 --> 00:41:17.922
So if you don't find that out from your head coach, that's where your basis of your actual relationships.
00:41:18.282 --> 00:41:30.672
So I talk to coaches about, you must develop, your interpersonal skills have to go on with your players, your goalkeepers and the team, but also your interaction with staff is vital so that we're on the same page.
00:41:31.331 --> 00:41:34.331
You don't want it whereby the goalkeeper we've got No, we shouldn't be out for the back.
00:41:34.362 --> 00:41:35.351
We need to launch it.
00:41:36.101 --> 00:41:37.092
No, Good doing that.
00:41:37.121 --> 00:41:38.711
Head coach wants to build from the back.
00:41:38.771 --> 00:41:39.012
Yeah.
00:41:39.192 --> 00:41:39.581
Why?
00:41:39.851 --> 00:41:42.501
Well, we've got Scholes, we've got Schmeichel Carrick.
00:41:42.822 --> 00:41:43.061
Yeah,
00:41:43.092 --> 00:41:44.001
we've got Van Persie.
00:41:44.021 --> 00:41:46.481
If we hit the ball into him, he's going to chest it.
00:41:46.512 --> 00:41:47.351
We'll play from there.
00:41:47.681 --> 00:41:51.371
We can go wide, we can give it a Giggs here on one side Valencia on the other.
00:41:51.672 --> 00:41:53.442
So if the throw is on, we throw wide.
00:41:53.831 --> 00:41:57.612
These are all things that you have to, it doesn't just happen on the training room.
00:41:58.001 --> 00:41:59.891
Easier with Paul, with good players.
00:41:59.891 --> 00:42:02.141
Yeah, even easier with great players.
00:42:02.291 --> 00:42:02.592
Yeah.
00:42:02.652 --> 00:42:04.902
And I was witness to that when I went to United.
00:42:04.902 --> 00:42:06.746
Oh, dear me.
00:42:06.851 --> 00:42:07.362
Simple.
00:42:07.481 --> 00:42:09.461
Given the simple instructions they just played.
00:42:10.751 --> 00:42:27.822
So then taking what you've said there, combined with what we were talking about before and the changes in the game, the technology via or, and all the new rules and things, what do you think, what do you think, how do you think that's affected goalkeepers mental game, if you like?
00:42:28.152 --> 00:42:32.652
How, do they have to think differently now compared to what they did 10, 15 years ago even?
00:42:33.552 --> 00:42:34.211
Good question.
00:42:34.992 --> 00:42:35.831
They've gotta think more.
00:42:35.891 --> 00:42:37.242
They've gotta understand the game.
00:42:37.572 --> 00:42:38.831
And back to the thread again.
00:42:38.862 --> 00:42:42.641
If they don't understand the game, they're not going to be able to have the ability to play.
00:42:43.001 --> 00:42:46.692
Have a look at the Breath Fresh Air Clubs in the Premier League in the last two, three years.
00:42:47.126 --> 00:42:51.507
Brighton, Alban Brentford, crystal Palace.
00:42:52.137 --> 00:42:52.976
What have they been asked?
00:42:52.976 --> 00:42:55.512
Their goalkeepers have been asked the form of deserve.
00:42:55.512 --> 00:42:56.007
He deserve.
00:42:56.456 --> 00:42:57.836
he wanted to be able to play.
00:42:57.867 --> 00:42:59.637
He wanted to be able to vary.
00:43:00.027 --> 00:43:00.177
Yeah.
00:43:00.206 --> 00:43:01.797
So Jason Steele might be in the team.
00:43:01.797 --> 00:43:02.996
Jason was very good.
00:43:03.206 --> 00:43:06.987
If they went to a team where they knew they'd leave space will play Jason Steele today.
00:43:07.856 --> 00:43:13.376
Next game they might want to invite the press on, invite the pressure, and we can play.
00:43:14.126 --> 00:43:17.817
So I think now there's more thought goes into it has to be.
00:43:18.027 --> 00:43:18.297
Yeah.
00:43:18.597 --> 00:43:21.896
And what you have to be then is as goalkeepers, you have to be immensely stronger.
00:43:22.496 --> 00:43:22.677
Yeah.
00:43:22.856 --> 00:43:23.771
To say, yep.
00:43:23.847 --> 00:43:24.746
Can you handle that?
00:43:24.777 --> 00:43:29.186
Now all I ever do is when I'm working with the outfield coaches, I says, I don't mind.
00:43:29.217 --> 00:43:31.936
I don't mind the fact that, yeah, we're going to look to play around.
00:43:32.266 --> 00:43:34.856
We're going to look to play through into the midfield areas.
00:43:35.097 --> 00:43:37.286
Someon have done it really, well.
00:43:38.052 --> 00:43:42.251
Yeah, they do it differently at Newcastle because of the goal with Nick Pope.
00:43:42.521 --> 00:43:45.972
Nick's not as comfortable as playing the short ball, but he's excellent at the throw.
00:43:45.972 --> 00:43:47.652
As we saw last week against Benfica.
00:43:47.981 --> 00:43:52.481
He's also excellent at launching the ball out of his hands or off the floor.
00:43:52.751 --> 00:43:58.391
So again, if you don't understand the strengths, yeah, you've then got to work that with the team.
00:43:58.692 --> 00:44:10.541
Hence, the reason why my big push was today to watch the actual session back, I'll watch it, is that you need to have the goalkeepers involved with the outfield more and more if you want to play that way where you're going to build.
00:44:11.172 --> 00:44:16.271
So it's a consideration that the head coach has to have with all of his staff, not just with his goalkeeper coach.
00:44:17.592 --> 00:44:25.331
With that, then, who would you see has been the most difficult goalkeeper to work with?
00:44:25.331 --> 00:44:30.461
And I don't mean that in terms of them being difficult as a person, but what's been the biggest challenge?
00:44:31.692 --> 00:44:33.521
Biggest challenge, do you know?
00:44:33.521 --> 00:44:33.911
I've been lucky.
00:44:35.036 --> 00:44:37.257
I have been lucky'cause I've worked with greats.
00:44:37.436 --> 00:44:44.396
Good, really good people, good characters who will go under the radar, but they've still had a really, good career.
00:44:45.447 --> 00:44:47.606
I very rarely had problems with goalkeepers.
00:44:47.606 --> 00:44:51.836
'cause the one thing we have, as you know, there's a union and we do tend to support.
00:44:51.836 --> 00:44:56.396
I've never been at a club where we used to spend Monday to Friday.
00:44:56.427 --> 00:45:00.927
It was a clear week and I used to always say, okay, Monday, Tuesday is all about what?
00:45:00.987 --> 00:45:04.827
What we feel as staff, the goalkeeper, the players need fine.
00:45:04.916 --> 00:45:11.157
Thursday, Friday was about what the goalkeeper needs, but in particular your number one on the buildup to the game.
00:45:11.967 --> 00:45:13.077
So we always worked.
00:45:13.166 --> 00:45:15.056
I worked on that theory for a long, time.
00:45:15.056 --> 00:45:17.606
And other coaches, outfield coaches, said steel.
00:45:17.697 --> 00:45:18.476
Exactly right.
00:45:18.956 --> 00:45:22.617
We'll do the shape on a Tuesday, we'll look at it again on the Thursday, but we won't.
00:45:23.067 --> 00:45:29.697
If you've got the best players, which is what I was lucky enough that I worked with Sir Alex, we worked on the 80 20% rule.
00:45:29.757 --> 00:45:29.907
Yeah.
00:45:30.371 --> 00:45:31.902
80% was about us.
00:45:32.202 --> 00:45:34.211
So you can imagine mentally what that does for the players.
00:45:34.242 --> 00:45:36.311
20% was about what we'll do on the opposition.
00:45:36.311 --> 00:45:36.851
We've got the ball.
00:45:37.692 --> 00:45:48.101
Now, if you've got that belief, so you in the instill that within your goalkeepers, and we do spend a lot more time on a one-to-one basis than the outfield coaches.
00:45:48.672 --> 00:45:56.532
But at Man United it wouldn't be, if you walked in at 12 o'clock, you'd actually see four of the strikers working with a goalkeeper and an outfield coach.
00:45:56.802 --> 00:46:00.867
I might have the other strikers working on cutbacks.
00:46:01.541 --> 00:46:07.842
So amazingly the goalkeepers were getting varied work the whole time because it was planned that way.
00:46:08.351 --> 00:46:17.561
So I never had the, one that was awkward at the time was Kasper when he was just growing up when he was actually 20 and he was just desperate to play.
00:46:17.561 --> 00:46:17.621
Yeah.
00:46:18.581 --> 00:46:21.581
And he had Joe Hart as competition in Isaksson his competition.
00:46:21.581 --> 00:46:22.692
The Swedish number one.
00:46:22.751 --> 00:46:22.931
Yeah.
00:46:23.472 --> 00:46:28.452
And he just was so impatient, so nothing gave me more pleasure than when he left city.
00:46:29.367 --> 00:46:34.586
Went to Notts County and he won his first medal as such different man.
00:46:34.586 --> 00:46:38.876
Then he goes on to Leicester, imagine what the pressure he felt with the dad he had.
00:46:39.027 --> 00:46:39.297
Yeah.
00:46:39.717 --> 00:46:41.452
But then he went to Leicester and he won the league.
00:46:42.476 --> 00:46:43.646
And you go Wow.
00:46:43.856 --> 00:46:44.666
In his own right.
00:46:44.666 --> 00:46:49.586
So yeah, I think, again, I look back and I go very rarely, I can't even think of one.
00:46:50.067 --> 00:46:51.246
I had a problem with Victor Valdez.
00:46:51.246 --> 00:46:54.027
I went in for four weeks at Middlesborough to help him out.
00:46:54.626 --> 00:46:58.137
And Valdez was coming to the end of Korea and he was an argumentative.
00:46:58.166 --> 00:46:58.436
Yeah.
00:46:58.436 --> 00:47:02.876
And we had, Brad Guzan Konstantopoulos was there.
00:47:03.027 --> 00:47:07.947
The Greek boy used to be at HarHartlepool And that was a difficult four weeks, but I was only there four weeks.
00:47:07.974 --> 00:47:09.387
So I really don't account that.
00:47:09.447 --> 00:47:09.507
Yeah.
00:47:09.507 --> 00:47:11.936
But Valdez knew and end of season he left, he went.
00:47:11.936 --> 00:47:12.356
Yeah.
00:47:13.376 --> 00:47:20.456
and it was understandable'cause he'd gone from that serious injury and he just, his career was starting to go that way.
00:47:20.461 --> 00:47:20.481
Yeah.
00:47:21.626 --> 00:47:26.336
But no, Paul, in all honesty, no, there wasn't that, there wasn't one though at handle court.
00:47:26.802 --> 00:47:27.342
Big problem.
00:47:27.641 --> 00:47:27.882
Yeah.
00:47:29.172 --> 00:47:30.612
Was flip that on its head then.
00:47:31.722 --> 00:47:35.112
Was there a, particular goalkeeper who taught you something that you didn't expect?
00:47:36.072 --> 00:47:37.481
Oh yeah, they all did.
00:47:38.322 --> 00:47:38.952
They all did.
00:47:39.936 --> 00:47:46.061
I've never seen a calmness like I saw with Edwin Van der Sar Joe Hart one of the bravest I've ever seen.
00:47:46.811 --> 00:47:49.692
Joe used to actually say to people, just hit through me, go and try and hit through me.
00:47:49.871 --> 00:47:51.641
He'd come out one on one, go, and hit through me.
00:47:52.545 --> 00:47:52.961
Unbelievable.
00:47:52.961 --> 00:47:54.461
Just no fear.
00:47:54.521 --> 00:47:55.545
Hit the ball wherever.
00:47:55.871 --> 00:47:57.041
No fear at all.
00:47:57.702 --> 00:48:05.891
Then you'd get your people like, Peter, and he would do, things, I'd say unbelievable, like he would, Leeds away.
00:48:06.461 --> 00:48:12.132
He's caught across and he, and I've got, I always remember David and said, what's he doing?
00:48:13.331 --> 00:48:23.351
And he actually ran out the box on a diagonal, rolled the ball, he could have thrown it, and he actually hit a ball to rise for Sal on a one-on-one with the defendant.
00:48:25.467 --> 00:48:26.637
And I'm there and their alternative.
00:48:26.637 --> 00:48:27.476
Stevie, what you doing?
00:48:27.476 --> 00:48:33.836
I said, have a look what he's doing now, he's having to go with der facade because he didn't make anything of a great opportunity one-on-one.
00:48:33.836 --> 00:48:34.617
He put the ball wide.
00:48:35.306 --> 00:48:38.757
So you'd have loads of little stories like that.
00:48:39.626 --> 00:48:44.157
What always, never felt the surprise me was the actual pleasure they got.
00:48:44.876 --> 00:48:49.916
And I always go back to the Italians were the best, so the greatest one for me, Buffon, who I met.
00:48:49.976 --> 00:48:50.217
Yeah.
00:48:50.516 --> 00:48:51.717
You watch the Italians.
00:48:52.166 --> 00:48:52.376
Yeah,
00:48:52.677 --> 00:48:53.666
you watch the Italians.
00:48:53.786 --> 00:48:59.456
If the defenders make a block, you watch the up in high fives.
00:48:59.726 --> 00:49:04.556
Buffon 20 minutes later makes a unbelievable save Cialdini, straight over.
00:49:05.007 --> 00:49:06.836
Well, I'd never known anything like it.
00:49:07.496 --> 00:49:09.177
That was the thing I love to see.
00:49:09.327 --> 00:49:09.686
Yeah.
00:49:10.827 --> 00:49:23.967
Edwin, when he made a great decision on an early free kick set, Wayne Rooney threw after 25 seconds at Old Trafford, Wayne Rooney went on chest volley Brad Goose on one knee up after 24 seconds, turn the camera around.
00:49:24.956 --> 00:49:27.927
All you see is Patrice Evra running, jumping on Edwin.
00:49:28.166 --> 00:49:28.556
Yeah.
00:49:28.797 --> 00:49:30.237
And appreciating what he'd done.
00:49:30.657 --> 00:49:32.186
Rio coming up going, brilliant.
00:49:32.487 --> 00:49:33.266
Somebody else.
00:49:33.597 --> 00:49:33.777
Yeah.
00:49:33.806 --> 00:49:39.507
So I think that was one of the nicest parts when you see how the players saw the volume and what they did.
00:49:39.956 --> 00:49:40.407
Yeah.
00:49:40.737 --> 00:49:43.797
And I think, you know, my, my boy looks at the Jordan Pickford.
00:49:43.797 --> 00:49:50.666
So, you, when you look at the way and he emulates him on the pitch, you know, you'll, he makes a great save and he's up celebrating, he's trying to rile the crowd off.
00:49:51.056 --> 00:49:53.697
he's under eight and he's trying to rile the crowd up.
00:49:53.786 --> 00:49:58.376
And I'm like, yeah, that's, where, you know, it's, almost to a point where keepers get forgotten.
00:49:58.556 --> 00:50:00.447
It's, you know, it's certainly a grassroots age.
00:50:00.507 --> 00:50:09.237
It's very much kind of, everybody else gets man of the match and, you know, you can have a great game and then all of a sudden somebody pops up and scores two goals at the death and wins the game for the team.
00:50:09.237 --> 00:50:10.527
And it's very easy.
00:50:10.527 --> 00:50:10.976
Forgotten.
00:50:10.976 --> 00:50:17.036
But like you say, it's, I, always find it quite fun to watch those moments where, the goalkeeper get the recognition that they absolutely deserve.
00:50:17.336 --> 00:50:19.742
When you see it now it's like it goes in circles.
00:50:20.666 --> 00:50:22.617
Every, nobody wants to be a number nine at the moment.
00:50:22.916 --> 00:50:23.067
Yeah.
00:50:23.126 --> 00:50:28.197
They don't want to be the 10, or they want to be the six or the eight that are controlling the actual So Caciedo at Chelsea.
00:50:29.097 --> 00:50:29.896
Oh, I want to be caoCaciedohy is that?
00:50:30.327 --> 00:50:36.086
I want to be a man at, I don't want to mention Newcastle, in case it upsets you, but you've got Xhaka there now.
00:50:36.206 --> 00:50:36.507
Yeah.
00:50:36.836 --> 00:50:42.177
You'll find a lot of Sunderland fans wanting to be a midfield player now that it just goes in cycles.
00:50:42.206 --> 00:50:42.416
Yeah.
00:50:42.626 --> 00:50:48.387
Then all of a sudden it'll turn and it'll go, man, city, how many kids want to be Edison?
00:50:48.536 --> 00:50:48.717
Yeah.
00:50:49.117 --> 00:50:54.177
When they saw, not just making save, but being responsible for eight, nine goals on assists.
00:50:54.237 --> 00:50:54.416
Yeah.
00:50:54.447 --> 00:50:55.407
So it is fashionable.
00:50:55.737 --> 00:50:56.007
Yeah.
00:50:56.036 --> 00:50:58.016
And it does come around and work that way.
00:50:58.347 --> 00:51:01.527
So at the moment, I, listened to Alan Shearer the other day.
00:51:01.556 --> 00:51:08.427
I think it was yesterday before the game, and he was talking about, he said, I'm not too sure people, everybody in Newcastle wanted to be Jackie Millburn.
00:51:08.427 --> 00:51:09.717
They wanted to be Malcolm McDonald.
00:51:09.717 --> 00:51:14.817
They wanted to be Alan Shearer Win Davis, I mean, all names that you, your too young to remember.
00:51:14.817 --> 00:51:15.327
Some of them.
00:51:15.476 --> 00:51:15.657
Yeah.
00:51:15.686 --> 00:51:18.686
But ultimately it was to be a#9 at Newcastle.
00:51:19.047 --> 00:51:20.262
It was the ultimate.
00:51:20.262 --> 00:51:20.592
Yeah.
00:51:21.222 --> 00:51:22.746
And that's why sheer still held you.
00:51:22.751 --> 00:51:30.882
You know, you watch the, goals that he scored, but all of a sudden now in the modern game, oh, I might want to be one of them defenders that's come out with a ball.
00:51:30.942 --> 00:51:31.242
Yeah.
00:51:31.422 --> 00:51:32.862
Or I want to be the six and the four.
00:51:32.862 --> 00:51:35.411
They get the ball from the goalkeeper and turn and get play going.
00:51:35.831 --> 00:51:38.112
All of a sudden in that's where the game is fashionable.
00:51:38.141 --> 00:51:38.351
Yeah.
00:51:38.532 --> 00:51:47.112
But in this country, your kids, the coaches that coach the game as well, their kids have got an unbelievable opportunity.
00:51:47.112 --> 00:51:53.442
When you see what's open to them via their computers, their iPod, whatever they use, they can learn the game.
00:51:54.012 --> 00:51:57.521
So I always say that's fine, but don't just let'em watch.
00:51:57.521 --> 00:52:01.961
Certainly let'em see the game and explain to it why that happens, why that goes on.
00:52:02.351 --> 00:52:03.222
'cause they will learn.
00:52:03.282 --> 00:52:04.452
There will become sponges.
00:52:05.922 --> 00:52:17.291
And then before we, before, I've got one more really interesting question that I do need to ask, which ties back to your childhood idol, but then you got involved, you know, we, we've edged onto it nicely there with the, with grassroots football.
00:52:17.291 --> 00:52:21.311
You, you got involved heavily with EvoGK as we can see by the top.
00:52:21.851 --> 00:52:22.481
How did that happen?
00:52:23.442 --> 00:52:24.402
what's the, thinking behind that for
00:52:24.791 --> 00:52:24.882
you?
00:52:24.882 --> 00:52:32.411
You know, I still can't remember how James Howarth the owner and he rang me, oh, this is, this is my dinner coming in edit.
00:52:34.121 --> 00:52:44.081
so what basically happened was James rang me and he said, look, I'm looking to form this company as such, would you mind coming and doing a, I've seen the FA conference when you presented on that.
00:52:45.851 --> 00:52:48.702
would you be prepared to do a, we're going to do similar.
00:52:48.822 --> 00:52:51.431
I want to get local goalkeepers, or I might even go on.
00:52:51.731 --> 00:52:56.981
So you started at Slay Hall and as I said to you at the time, you're going to find it difficult.
00:52:57.251 --> 00:53:00.101
It's a long way for people to come to Newcastle.
00:53:00.222 --> 00:53:01.242
Anyway, we did that.
00:53:01.331 --> 00:53:02.181
I went to Slaley Hall.
00:53:02.181 --> 00:53:03.882
I presented the forum for the first time.
00:53:04.422 --> 00:53:12.641
And then I went off the next, I went straight off after I couldn't stay for the weekend'cause my wife was running the Liverpool half marathon and I wanted to be there.
00:53:13.032 --> 00:53:14.262
But that was the start.
00:53:14.621 --> 00:53:28.032
And since then with, James and a lot of the other coaches we've actually built and you look at what's available now through Evo, it's a great platform for kids, for coaches parents.
00:53:28.452 --> 00:53:32.172
And we've just gradually over the six years we've introduced the women's game.
00:53:32.231 --> 00:53:35.802
You know, helped'em get Ian Wilcox, who was the Man United goalkeeping coach.
00:53:36.161 --> 00:53:40.152
I helped him get, Chris Williams who was at Man City.
00:53:40.211 --> 00:53:40.391
Yep.
00:53:40.601 --> 00:53:44.202
All of a sudden we've had for the girls,'cause obviously now they're a major part.
00:53:44.202 --> 00:53:46.811
When you look at Newcastle, Sunderland Mioddlesbrough Durham.
00:53:47.242 --> 00:53:49.692
You know, we've got four women's teams very close by.
00:53:50.231 --> 00:53:52.452
So it's just been a gradual development.
00:53:52.512 --> 00:54:03.822
And if you look at the coaches that we've ended up that have come up to the Northeast to present all credit to James that, you know, and we've, you know, obviously I'm an ambassador for him, so I help him put things together.
00:54:04.211 --> 00:54:05.922
He still does a lot of the groundwork.
00:54:06.731 --> 00:54:08.922
and he loves it, as does his parents.
00:54:09.262 --> 00:54:09.322
Yeah.
00:54:09.322 --> 00:54:09.972
His mam and dad.
00:54:10.452 --> 00:54:10.722
Yeah.
00:54:11.322 --> 00:54:14.141
you can't go at the beacon of light when you've got a goalkeeper event on.
00:54:14.141 --> 00:54:15.521
You look up and she's there
00:54:15.581 --> 00:54:15.911
Yeah.
00:54:16.242 --> 00:54:19.362
With all the shirts and the shorts and she's talking to the parents.
00:54:19.362 --> 00:54:20.891
So it's a family affair.
00:54:22.362 --> 00:54:27.402
so yeah, it's been, it's been a pleasure to be part of it and it's been great to see the way it's grown.
00:54:27.972 --> 00:54:30.702
And just today I can't wait to see the footage.
00:54:31.061 --> 00:54:32.382
We've got James involved today.
00:54:32.411 --> 00:54:35.382
He was there and it was blowing a, just starting to blow a gale.
00:54:35.411 --> 00:54:35.472
Yeah.
00:54:35.592 --> 00:54:39.762
He was there and just like me short, he had short t-shirt on because we were one goalkeeper short.
00:54:39.942 --> 00:54:40.061
Yeah.
00:54:40.061 --> 00:54:46.811
And there he was in a, amongst or so he's, and I think he's learned and he's grown as a coach, as a person.
00:54:47.802 --> 00:54:50.561
so I think he should be rightfully proud of what he's done in the six years.
00:54:50.652 --> 00:54:51.431
Yeah, absolutely.
00:54:51.702 --> 00:54:57.161
and you know, I talk with my family a lot is the northeast, is the home of football.
00:54:57.251 --> 00:54:57.402
Yeah.
00:54:57.431 --> 00:54:59.442
You know, we've got so much passion.
00:54:59.967 --> 00:55:13.436
In the Northeast four football itself for, being fans, for playing football, to be, part of the, and we're so privileged to be part of fan base of the biggest clubs in the country, which is part of the biggest league in the world is, phenomenal.
00:55:13.496 --> 00:55:13.737
And this is
00:55:13.737 --> 00:55:15.836
what you've waited so long for.
00:55:16.586 --> 00:55:19.106
Can't wait for Newcastle, Sunderland, Newcastle,
00:55:19.496 --> 00:55:20.637
and hopefully Middlesborough next year.
00:55:20.697 --> 00:55:20.996
Yeah.
00:55:21.056 --> 00:55:22.197
So you look and go
00:55:22.496 --> 00:55:25.677
having been and born and bred, I know what the northeast means.
00:55:25.737 --> 00:55:26.007
Yeah.
00:55:26.186 --> 00:55:26.936
I know what it means.
00:55:26.936 --> 00:55:31.047
To the Geordies to the, Wearside people, the teeside people.
00:55:31.407 --> 00:55:32.336
It's a, it is vital.
00:55:32.487 --> 00:55:33.806
It's a huge, it's part of their lives.
00:55:34.106 --> 00:55:34.436
Yeah.
00:55:34.496 --> 00:55:39.447
And it's great to see a full, I mean, you only talk about two years ago you couldn't fill the stadium of light.
00:55:39.476 --> 00:55:41.097
You're struggled to get the big crowds now.
00:55:41.097 --> 00:55:41.757
Look where you are.
00:55:41.936 --> 00:55:42.297
Yeah.
00:55:42.447 --> 00:55:48.027
And all credit to again, the owners and the staff that have brought the, this new coaching.
00:55:48.806 --> 00:55:51.927
I think I look, I'll look at the coaches and the level of what they've brought in.
00:55:52.047 --> 00:55:52.347
Yeah.
00:55:52.797 --> 00:55:54.567
And I know the goalkeeper coach really well.
00:55:54.567 --> 00:55:59.427
Neil Cutler, Alessandro Barcherini he's gone from coach to assistant head coach.
00:55:59.831 --> 00:56:03.552
So, yeah, I think it's absolutely brilliant times for the Northeast.
00:56:03.911 --> 00:56:10.452
And I think it's interesting'cause I see a lot of, you know, obviously of as a kid brought up with the Newcastle Sunderland rivalry and we love it.
00:56:10.692 --> 00:56:11.351
I love it.
00:56:11.351 --> 00:56:14.681
I love the banter, the camaraderie, the crack.
00:56:15.762 --> 00:56:26.081
but to see, you know, I, remember we were at the, with the Coventry Playoff final and we won and people were celebrating like we'd won the World Cup and, it did feel like we'd won the World Cup, I'm not going to lie.
00:56:26.731 --> 00:56:34.751
And what was really fun was, I remember being on YouTube watching, you know, the highlight reel and people underneath were commenting, oh, look at them over celebrating.
00:56:34.751 --> 00:56:41.621
It was a lot of Coventry fans on there, and I understand the bitterness, but the irony was there was a lot of New Castle fans on there going, do you know what?
00:56:41.652 --> 00:56:42.911
Let them have their moment.
00:56:43.481 --> 00:56:44.472
Let them have their moment.
00:56:44.472 --> 00:56:47.862
And I think that, that is the spirit of football I see in the Northeast.
00:56:48.101 --> 00:56:49.632
That's, the bit that I want to see going forward.
00:56:49.842 --> 00:56:52.242
Not, going back to the Hooliganism of the seventies but No.
00:56:52.242 --> 00:56:58.797
You know, moving forward in, you know, the northeast being the new Manchester of football and long mate continue.
00:57:00.927 --> 00:57:04.226
bring it back then to that last question that I absolutely have to know the answer to.
00:57:04.226 --> 00:57:09.746
So, your childhood idols, how do you think they would fare in the modern game?
00:57:11.516 --> 00:57:12.717
Actually would've no problem.
00:57:15.356 --> 00:57:18.237
again, they would have to learn the game in terms of the playing out.
00:57:18.297 --> 00:57:23.547
That's definitely, you know, people ask me that about Peter going yeah, I could play in this morning game.
00:57:23.547 --> 00:57:26.246
I, he just always go on the, the possession at the start.
00:57:26.547 --> 00:57:27.867
He thought he could play as such.
00:57:28.317 --> 00:57:31.286
He was the best ever at hitting the ball into a channel or whatever.
00:57:32.217 --> 00:57:33.536
banks would have to learn the game.
00:57:34.106 --> 00:57:38.396
What he wouldn't have to learn is how to come and command and take is eight yards out.
00:57:38.757 --> 00:57:38.876
Yeah.
00:57:38.876 --> 00:57:40.887
Come and punch him to go 30 yards.
00:57:41.157 --> 00:57:42.836
Calm the whole place down.
00:57:43.077 --> 00:57:45.597
Gordon never knew how he got into position sometimes.
00:57:45.777 --> 00:57:46.976
It was a, he was a natural.
00:57:47.126 --> 00:57:47.336
Yeah.
00:57:47.726 --> 00:57:50.306
I said, Hey to mate, did you realise Gordon, that you've gone from there today?
00:57:50.306 --> 00:57:53.876
He said, no, I just, I knew you didn't know when to stop in line with the ball.
00:57:54.416 --> 00:58:01.976
So you'd get in line, then go down the line, you would actually get there and just hold yourself and that was your big, So a bit like Peter did.
00:58:01.976 --> 00:58:05.126
He'd just say, go on, then beat me or Joe put it through me.
00:58:05.516 --> 00:58:07.077
Gordon was even calm on that.
00:58:07.137 --> 00:58:09.896
He would just go there and they had them big, long arms.
00:58:10.197 --> 00:58:10.347
Yeah.
00:58:10.766 --> 00:58:16.166
so yeah, they'd both have to learn the attributes that you would need to be able to play out.
00:58:16.496 --> 00:58:21.447
But I think with the intelligence, the goalkeeping intelligence, the football intelligence, yeah, they could do it.
00:58:22.166 --> 00:58:22.827
Fantastic.
00:58:23.396 --> 00:58:29.637
Eric, I could absolutely talk to you for another four or five hours, but I'm conscious that you do need to actually get some food at some point.
00:58:29.637 --> 00:58:30.686
We need to bring this to a halt.
00:58:31.467 --> 00:58:32.516
we'll have to do this again.
00:58:32.577 --> 00:58:33.476
I've really enjoyed it.
00:58:33.476 --> 00:58:36.086
Thank you so much for your time and sharing your knowledge with us today.
00:58:36.146 --> 00:58:36.717
My pleasure.
00:58:36.867 --> 00:58:37.617
Good luck to everybody.
00:58:37.617 --> 00:58:38.306
I hope they enjoy it.
00:58:38.697 --> 00:58:39.476
Thanks very much Eric.