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No1s fit to wear the shirt

Once home to some of the world's greatest, Great Britain is going through a goalkeeping drought.

By Andrew Warshaw

There was a time was when the great British goalkeeper was sacrosanct and the very idea of German, French and Italian - let alone American - goalkeepers showing the British how to perform between the posts was unthinkable. Outfield players were one thing but no one was better in a green jersey than a home-grown British goalie.

Home-grown talent
Names like Gordon Banks, Ray Clemence, Peter Shilton, Pat Jennings, Bob Wilson and, more recently, David Seaman rolled off the tongue. Keepers you could rely on when the going got tough, who were revered and respected the world over.

Foreign invasion
Not any more. The controversy surrounding David James - whose mistake against Austria last weekend led to him being left out of England's 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Poland - highlighted the English Premiership's growing dependence on overseas goalkeepers, with only a handful of clubs still relying on a British-born custodian.

End of an era
Petr Cech at Chelsea FC, Antti Niemi at Southampton FC and Jens Lehmann at defending champions Arsenal FC are just three of the goalkeepers who have been flown in to make up for an untimely jam in the once reliable production line of British keepers.

German stopper
One or two foreign goalkeepers had successfully plied their trade in England before, of course. Germany's Bert Trautmann back in the 1950s for Manchester City FC was perhaps the earliest example of a top-class British-based overseas keeper. But between Trautmann and the emergence of Denmark's Peter Schmeichel, few English managers would have taken a chance on a foreign stopper.

Downward spiral
Clemence, England's goalkeeping coach, believes the legacy of 1966 FIFA World Cup winner Banks may have been partially responsible for the downward spiral by creating a generation of complacency. "Banks set the standard for everyone all over the world and to be fair we've had a lot of great English goalkeepers since," Clemence told uefa.com.

'Terrific youngsters'
"But maybe we thought we'd always be blessed with them and that we didn't need to work at it, that they would always be there and could just be picked off the trees," said Clemence. "Because of that, there wasn't sufficient personal development of keepers and so we've dropped behind. We do have some terrific youngsters coming through but I admit there's been a void between them and established keepers who are now in their mid-30s.

'Specialised position'
"That's because not enough work was put in," he added. "There were no coaching courses at all. Nowadays, more and more clubs are employing goalkeeping coaches because they realise it's a specialised position but that's only been happening for five to seven years."

'Terrific youngsters'
Southampton's Finnish international Niemi says attitudes in England have changed dramatically, saying: "Fifteen or 20 years ago, people here were pretty short-sighted when it came to goalkeepers. Now they recognise that we no longer necessarily have to be big, tall and dominant."

'Chance to shine'
Bob Wilson, the former Arsenal and Scotland keeper, is increasingly worried about the dearth of home-grown keepers. "Coaches have increasingly come under pressure and the one position you can't take a real gamble with is goalkeeper," he said. "Managers are no longer prepared to throw in a Shilton at 17 because of the difficulty that goalkeeping has become. I find it desperately sad that we are not producing the keepers we once were but I genuinely believe we have some youngsters who can perform at the top level. But they have to be given a chance."