Best English Goalkeepers

[Deleted Cyber]

In light of the death of Ray Clemence there has been debate as to the best English keepers capped at full level. So a new thread calleth! Who are your top five in your football watching lifetime and why?

1. David Seaman- Safe hands , kept fit and commanded the goal and the area. Excellent all round
2. Ray Clemence- had the lot and spent his whole career at the top for top clubs
3. Peter Shilton- Lasted a bit too long but an excellent shot stopper, if a little immobile.
4. Joe Corrigan- Utterly underrated and would have been a shoe in but for Clemence and Shilton
5. Chris Woods circa 1985-90. He was very good as an international back up in that period and for me deserved to step up when he did under Taylor. It all went very wrong very quickly for him.

Nigel Martyn and Paul Robinson get honourable mentions as does Tim Flowers. Pickford doesnt get a look in I am afraid

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Seaman
Hart (until his game fell off a cliff)
Martyn
Murray
Flowers

 

[Tredman]

That I have seen:

Seaman (still remember being amazed at seeing how big / confident in person he was at the FA Cup semi-final)
Martyn
James (on his (very) occasional day)
Flowers
Murray

 

[WolfmanOz]

1. Gordon Banks - as safe as the bank of England . . . and of course that save against Pele.
2. Ray Clemence - calm with great positional sense.
3. Peter Shilton - great shot stopper.
4. Joe Corrigan - commanding presence.
5. David Seaman - best keeper since the early 90s.

Others to note - Peter Bonetti (Chelsea - unfairly maligned for that one game/goal vs West Germany in 1970), Gordon West (Everton), Phil Parkes (QPR and West Ham), Ron Springett (Sheffield Wednesday), Paul Cooper (Ipswich) and Jimmy Rimmer (Arsenal and Aston Villa).

Also, I'd like to mention the great Pat Jennings - Irish I know, but a wonderful keeper (2nd to Banks for me).

 

[Deleted Cyber]

Matt Murray didnt win any full caps though nor did Cooper. He was only 5ft 9 too! Bit of a penalty specialist.

 

[North Shropshire Lad]

Cooper was always considered a penalty specialist in the same way that [for opposite reasons] Dicks and Stewart of WHU were. Reading Wiki to check his height as 5'9" seemed too small, it says he saved his 59th penalty while at Leicester. This can't be right surely? Training doesn't count!
P.S. According to Wiki, neither was he 5'9"

 

[Deleted Cyber]

Matt Murray certainly wasnt! Cooper was 5ft 9 or 5ft 10 depending on the source. He wasnt the shortest at Ipswich as Laurie Sivell was 5ft 8. Sivell starred in escape to Victory. The smallest keeper I can ever remember internationally was Mexico's Campos at 5ft 6!.

 

[North Shropshire Lad]

I'll accept that you have more 'local' knowledge and won't argue over an inch, but it's Wiki's claim of 59 penalty saves that astounds me. For comparison, the most in the PL era is David James with 13 from over 550 PL games. Most of Coopers would have been in the top flight or domestic cups (when they were taken seriously) and Europe. It seems an incredible amount.

Conversely, I always thought Shilton was terrible at them, especially in his latter years, and never expected him to save any. His long arms seemed to tuck in by his sides and his legs went nowhere.

My top five:

Seaman - better than I think is generally acknowledged and probably should be considered world class. Dodgy barnet though for most of the time
Hart - head and shoulders (no pun intended) above his peers for many years. Massive for City during their rise
Robinson - seriously good until he fell off a Hart sized cliff. Disguarded too soon by Spurs and good enough to finish Martyn at Leeds
Martyn - another great keeper and because he was displaced at Leeds by Robinson means he's below him on the list
Shilton - latter years clouds my judgement. I should remember the early year more, but the Bolton play off games also mean my fondness of him is reduced significantly

Was never a massive Clemence fan (and always thought the rivalry with Shilton meant you lent one way or the other too much) and Corrigan was too unfashionable and untried in an England shirt to make the five.

The one that got away? Richard Wright - expected him to have a much better career than he did after seeing him for Ipswich.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Dickie Wright had a couple of early shockers when he moved to Arsenal and never recovered. He was very good indeed for Ipswich. But it spoke volumes that he got displaced by a fairly ancient (but still excellent) Martyn while at Everton, I think it was a mental thing.

Other than Big Matt (of course) then Kirkland is another that got away, injuries wrecked him.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

On Martyn at Leeds - that was Venables being a wanker.

Martyn came back from the 2002 World Cup and asked for some extra time off rather than going on a pre-season tour. Venables said "if you don't come then you're never playing for the club again". And he never did. Irony being that Mr Tikka didn't turn up on time for pre-season as he was filming some trash for Wish You Were Here.

He was still superb for Everton, in the end it was only an injury which finished him off. Brilliant keeper, I've even forgiven him for being chiefly responsible for the first ever home loss of ours I saw (Easter Monday 1989 vs Bristol Rovers).

 

[Kenny]

He was still superb for Everton, in the end it was only an injury which finished him off. Brilliant keeper, I've even forgiven him for being chiefly responsible for the first ever home loss of ours I saw (Easter Monday 1989 vs Bristol Rovers).

Up there with the best oppostion keeper performance at Molineux?

Rob Green at Norwich, when we beat them 1-0 was out of this world. Just a brilliant keepers performance

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Oh aye, that should have been 6 or 7-0.

Probably one of those two. I've watched back the Shilton for Bolton saves and while he made a lot you'd expect any half decent keeper to make most of them, it was our wonky finishing from good positions which did us.

 

[lemonjelly]

I remember Ben Foster when younger being a very good keeper. We played watford at molineux when he was on loan there from utd, and Murray was in goal for us, and I was convinced we were watching the 2 keepers who would be battling for the number 1 jersey for england for some time.

 

[Alan]

Was Rob Green always quite good prior to that goal in the 2010 World Cup or was he always capable of a clanger before that?

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Just a good keeper (he was good after too). Not a world beater but very decent. Probably around the same level as Tim Howard.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I remember Ben Foster when younger being a very good keeper. We played watford at molineux when he was on loan there from utd, and Murray was in goal for us, and I was convinced we were watching the 2 keepers who would be battling for the number 1 jersey for england for some time.

Postma was in goal that day.

You don't remember as well as you think you do

 

[The Bear]

Talking of Shilton:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1194763875843002371