Is Ryan Clarke Oxford's greatest goalkeeper?

The funny thing about goalkeepers is they usually need to leave in order to make an objective assessment as to their quality. Unlike strikers, whose legend (or not) is forged in the here and now, most goalkeepers are treated well by fans and it is only some years later that a more considered view can emerge.

For example, in the 10 years at the Kassam, it is perhaps only Ian McCaldon who was butchered by the Oxford faithful whilst actually guarding his goal. Despite being in the doldrums, others like Woodman, Tardif, Turley and now Clarke (plus the odds and sods of loanees and juniors) have all been treated well. Perhaps it's because goalkeeping looks genuinely difficult. Most of us can kick a ball reasonably straight and true - we can at least make some vague connection with what outfield players do, but how many of us naturally throw ourselves full length to the floor? Goalkeeping contains counter-intuitive actions, maybe we admire that.

So, it's not really possible to make a genuine assessment as to where Ryan Clarke sits in the 'legendary goalkeeper' firmament. But lets try. Let's look at the three aforementioned Kassam regulars. Andy Woodman was part of a sturdy defensive unit that included Matt Robinson, Scott McNiven, Andy Crosby and Matt Bound. They didn't concede many goals, but, with hindsight, the ball seemed to rarely get to Woodman, so whilst being a solid component of a larger unit, he was a largely unremarkable keeper.

Time And Relative Dimensions In Football - Chris Tardif was equally unremarkable, but for different reasons. Unlike Woodman, he was exposed by a more porous defence and so was able to show off his shot stopping skills, but he wasn't a significant and reassuring presence and so loses out on that count. We admired him for his exploits, but looking back, he was probably just benefitting from being used as target practice.

Billy Turley was my Kassam All-star XI goalkeeper. There were times when he was magnificent, outshining those around him time and time again. He was also a narcissist and his charming eccentricities did have a habit of getting the better of him. This happened most notably against Orient in the last game of the 2005/6 season and Exeter in the play-off semi-final 2nd leg in 2007 - the two most important games he played in. As I say, it is relatively easy to paint yourself as a great keeper when you have plenty of shots being fired at you, it's saving them at critical times that counts.

Turley will forever be labelled an Oxford legend, and rightly so, but as time progresses, he will probably be known more in the Johnny 'lager' Durnin than Johnny 'goals' Aldridge sense. A character.

My frame of reference for The Manor goalkeepers stretches back as far as Roy Burton's bumcrack. Burton was deeply loved and still is. Not surprising in that he kept goal for 11 years, from the Nothing Years right to the edge of the Glory Years. The memory of Burton, however was as much about his inability to hold up his shorts as it was his goalkeeping skills.

It is funny that we are uncompromising towards managers and other players, we consider football a 'results business' and if results don't come we're happy to diagnose instant redundancy. When it comes to goalkeepers, it seems we're drawn more to their personalities; and specifically the ones that make us laugh.

The gap between Burton's last game and Steve Hardwick's first was a matter of weeks. I do remember the absolute shock of Paul Butcher taking up position in the green shirt (with blue shorts and yellow socks - just how it should be - none of this special outfit nonsense of today). 

During the boom years, Hardwick never seemed to concede a goal and my addled brain remembers him leaping higher than the cross bar to tip the ball over on a regular basis. I thought he was brilliant, but I thought everyone in that team was brilliant.

Given Hardwick's contribution to the Glory Days, it was surprising that Alan Judge seemed to take over once we reached the 1st Division. It's difficult to know how good Judge was, though. After 2 years of attacking devil-may-care, when everything seemed to go right for us, we were suddenly placed on the back foot as England's top strikers attacked a defence forged in the lower leagues. The Guardian recently described that defensive unit - as legendary as it is to us today - 'a disgrace'. Conceding goals and scratching out points was a sobering experience and whilst Judge will always be our Milk Cup Final keeper, he'll also be one which was in a team which was constantly in a battle to stay up.

After Judge came a more fuzzy period. Peter Hucker was around for much longer than I remember, but it was difficult to see games in that time and perhaps for me his 1982 FA Cup final appearance for QPR eclipses his time in an Oxford jersey. Ken Veysey's stay was brief but well regarded, unlike Paul Kee.

Then suddenly, one evening in 1993 Phil Whitehead appeared between the sticks. Whitehead grew to become a contender for the greatest keeper we ever had. He saw us through promotion in 1996 and down the other side. His sale to West Brom propped us up for a period. 

Like Clarke, he was playing behind a solid back-four but there were times when he pulled off the remarkable. I still remember this save against Port Vale in the League Cup as being utterly miraculous. The ball seemed to be sitting on the goalline with the striker ready to prod home, but from nowhere Whitehead appeared to parry it to safety. The thing I remember is that we were 2-0 up and cruising and yet Whitehead's desire to get the block in was undiminished. That moment sticks in my brain to this day.

Post-Whitehead, there was another period of fuzzyness; Pal Lundin, Andre Arendse, Richard Knight, all had their moments in the sun with various levels of success. Knight, in particular, was a brilliant shot stopper, but we broke his spirit in the final season at the Manor as he conceded over 100 goals and still ended up player of the season.

So, is Ryan Clarke Oxford's greatest ever goalkeeper? Given the nature of the opposition each keeper faced and the defences they stood behind, it's a marginal call. For me, it's between him and Phil Whitehead. However, on Tuesday, as Izzy Macleod stood over the ball ready to take the penalty, I had an unreasonable amount of confidence that he would save it. How often do you get to think that about a goalkeeper? He's perhaps the only player from the Conference years who has shown no signs of needing to adjust in the Football League. 

On the other hand, Whitehead took us up in 1996 and was playing at a higher level. Clarke, of course, has been part of one promotion team - and you could argue that the Conference is one of the hardest leagues to get out of. If he manages a second promotion come May, perhaps then we can make the claim that he's the number 1 number 1.

Kassam All Star XI - Goalkeeper

By the time he got to the Kassam Stadium, Richard Knight had the haunted look of a war veteran. Decorated as the Player of the Year in our last season at The Manor, he hid deep and lasting wounds of the 100+ goals he’d shipped in the process.

In The Grand Fantasy, he was set to dominate the ‘keepers slot in a resurgent Oxford. But the fantasy remained just that; the club didn’t resurge nor did Knight dominate. He lasted one game before being over taken by Ian McCaldon; a man whose most notable contribution was to blast the ball off the arse of an oncoming striker and into the net in a desperate 2-2 draw against York.

Ian Atkins’ arrival brought in the first contender for the Kassam’s All Star XI. Andy Woodman, was a knock-about, happy go lucky lower league journeyman but a man Atkins could trust. The defensive unit at that time was greater than the sum of its parts, but Woodman was a rock of experience on which Atkins could build his briefly successful squad.

Atkins’ acrimonious split from the club saw the arrival of Graham Rix. Rix’s key personality trait was to make utterly bizarre decisions from sleeping with an underage girl to making Paul Wanless play tippy-tappy football – which is perhaps more morally reprehensible. One of his first bizarre decisions was to replace Woodman with first Simon Cox, and then lovely-bloke Time and Relative Dimensions in Football: Chris Tardif.

Rix quickly left, but Tardif remained, he was also Ramon Diaz’s first choice ‘keeper. He was only overtaken when Brian Talbot, a man who spoke as though his tongue was sewn to the roof of his mouth, arrived. Amidst promises of double promotions and a trip to Wembley, Talbot did make one good decision, he brought in Billy Turley.

Turley came with a reputation; banned in 2004 for using cocaine, in typically understated football fan parlance he was branded a ‘crackhead’. All this was part of the Turley brand. Eccentric and brilliant at the same time, no more so than in the Orient and Exeter games; two of the most significant games ever played at the Kassam.

Turley was challenged by Tardif in the way a wasp challenges you for your ice cream. When Jim Smith arrived in late 2005/6, he brought in Andrea Guatelli, but Turley fought back. Nothing that successive managers could throw at him could bring him down. It was only when Chris Wilder brought in Ryan Clarke was Turley’s crown finally taken.

Clarke is a thoroughly modern ‘keeper, athletic and tall as a skyscraper. He’s been as important as James Constable in our resurgence over the last two years. Ironically his biggest mistake was on our biggest day at Wembley, but he also pulled off at least one world class save that day and countless others to get us there in the first place. It’s not easy staying in a Wilder squad, let alone the first team, so being ever-present during 2010/11 is testament to Clarke’s contribution.

But, in the Kassam All-Star XI, the keeper’s spot has to go to Turley. Even in the darkest years he performed, he was the only one who stuck around and actually ‘righted the wrong’. And, there were few more poetic and perfect moments at the Kassam Stadium than his last meaningful contribution to the club.

End of season review - adios amigos

After such giddy success, it seems unfair to start looking at who should be staying and who should be going. Can’t we just stay in this place for a little bit longer?

Well, no, evidently. Few will argue with most of the releases announced this week. Franny Green is a good solid Conference pro, the kind of man you can rely on to do a shift in for you. Of course, we’re not a Conference club anymore and with the market opening up for us, his qualities won’t transfer up to the next level.

Chris Hargreaves’ moments during his second spell were fleeting, the combativeness and endeavour were there, but a career of lower league football has clearly taken its toll on his body.

Billy Turley, 2008 Oxblogger player of the year, is clearly approaching ‘legend’ status. Whilst we floundered hopelessly, the one positive constant was Turley. Sentimentality had me hoping that he’d be accommodated in some way (goalkeeping player/coach?). On the other hand, its good to preserve his legend status. How perfect was it that he signed off from the Kassam with an astonishing save against Mansfield, and some even more astonishing YouTube videos?

Kevin Sandwich might count himself a little unfortunate. By no means a stick-on first teamer and unfortunately chastised by the crowd for his shortcomings, he rarely let anyone down when needed. Squads need Kevin Sandwiches, although, it seems, not this one.

John Grant didn’t really stand a chance; his inclusion at the expense of Jack Midson immediately put him at a disadvantage. Not scoring didn’t help either.

Lewis Chalmers, might have had a chance with Adam Murray injured and Adam Chapman's troubles. But with Chapman finding some startling form as the season closed, Chalmers’ chances disappeared.

Jamie Cook too had a chance during the period that will forever be known as ‘The Sticky Patch’. When Sam Deering couldn’t reach the penalty box with his corners; Cook represented an option for dead-ball delivery. He probably has the best first touch in the whole squad and some of his feints and passing were sublime. Sadly, in a team that thrives on its dynamic work rate, Cook’s more ‘continental’ talents were out a bit out of place. He did, at least, leave an iconic moment in the season – when he became the True Carrier of Hope.

News round-up: loan stars

I was going to open this post by making out that I was slapping myself in the face trying to resist the temptation of being optimistic about the coming season. Luckily the Brackley result poured the necessary cold water on that.

Friendlies are horrible; if they’re meaningless then why do all teams play them? Fitness is one obvious reason; which is why Matt Day should expect to play a lot this summer. How do you manage to be a professional footballer and put on (as rumoured) a stone in weight during the close season? Especially shortly after being publicly told that he was on his way out of the club if he didn’t change his attitude. How stupid is Matt Day? Or is this why we love him so?

The other reason for friendlies is an opportunity to walk through some patterns of play – which is why James Constable’s winning goal against Oxford City is encouraging. At least he and the ball were in the right place at the right time to score.

Most of the week was taken up with the flurry of signings 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 although none of them are actually ours. I’m not sure of the ins and outs of the loan system. It seems we pay the salary and get a decent player – but we don’t get to keep them. I’m not comfortable with this idea because it seems to dilute the club’s identity (e.g. its best players aren’t really its players at all). On the other hand, I’ve never professed to being totally au fait with modern football and - like people using lower-case text message language in work emails – perhaps it’s the way things are done nowadays. It is, I suppose, a short term investment in a long term future.

Certainly Lewis Haldane and James Constable seem to have the backing from the fans of their parent clubs, which is a good sign. Jamie Guy, on the other hand, appears to be yet another ‘bad-boy’ (Robinson, Jeannin, Zebrowski). Although if he turns out to be a John Durnin, then who cares? Nicky Wire from the Manic Street Preachers once said of the Italians “As long as the manager wins the title it doesn’t matter if he’s caught sniffing cocaine out of the arsehole of a whore” which is kind of how I feel about Guy. One of the benefits of the loan system is that if he does make us successful, its because we’re a great club – if not, he’s from Colchester.

I wonder whether the signing of Jake Cole suggest that cracks in Billy Turley have started to show. Certainly Turley had is eccentric moments last season, although in the main he was excellent. The length of Cole’s signing suggests that Turley’s injury may be worse than originally perceived. Although goalkeepers are able to play into their forties, you have to question whether an injury that keeps him out for a total of five months throughout the summer and first two months of the new season may actually signal the beginning of the end.

Comment: Player of the Year

So, the club have announced a 5% drop in season ticket prices. I find the official site headline “Loyalty brings its reward” faintly patronising. Aside from a good run-in and Darren Patterson’s manager of the month award, it has been a dismal season. The very idea that the club deign to reward us is pretty galling. What it should have said was “We’ve served up a pile of absolute shite for 10 years, we simply can’t get away with charging you this much anymore”.

There were times this season when it was difficult to see how anyone could be rewarded a plaudit like ‘Player of the Season’ after the dross that was served up.

Pound for pound, it’s difficult to argue against Luke Foster, who has been, by far the best player of the season. However, I like my players of the season playing for a whole season and so prefer to look elsewhere.

The problem with this season is that only Turley, Quinn and Trainer can be described as first team regulars. Some (Twigg et al) made it to Christmas, others (Green and the like) only appeared later in the season. Some, (Day, Yemi) flitted in and out.

Trainer’s continued presence is a surprise; he looked heavy legged earlier in the season and a prime candidate for the chop come the revolution. In some ways he’s the perfect player of the season, as he’s a bit of a barometer – when we’ve struggled so has he, when we improved, so did he. I like him, he’s no player of the season in the traditional sense, but he’s the kind of player you can relate to. On that basis, I’m making him the first Oxblogger Official Favourite Player. An honorary position he shall carry until he leaves the club.

Back to the task at hand. The short list, then, is Turley or Quinn. Quinn has been Mr Consistent. 12 months ago I was advocating that he be released; but in cases of turmoil, his continued presence has been essential. Turley has been more erratic, his performances have been spectacular and frustrating in equal measure. His eccentricities are starting to get the better of him and its good to hear that Darren Patterson is planning to bring in some competition. But in a season where we contrived to score 1 goal in 13.5 hours, entertainment has been at a premium. Turley’s distribution may be a bit ropey, but his shot stopping has been superb. On this basis, Turley gets my vote for brightening up some pretty grey months.