Goalkeeping is no laughing matter for Albion coach (From The Argus)

Goalkeeping is no laughing matter for Albion coach

8:00am Friday 3rd July 2009 in

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Tony Godden likes a laugh and a joke.

The former West Bromwich Albion, Chelsea and Birmingham No. 1 has been confirmed as Albion’s permanent goalkeeping coach as successor to Paul Crichton.

Unofficially, he is possibly also replacing retiring physio Malcolm Stuart as the man always ready with a one-liner.

But chat to him about goalkeepers and the man in charge of the Seagulls’ shotstoppers has some pretty serious opinions.

In fact he would not even like that word ‘shotstoppers’. He wants the six players under his supervision to be all-rounders.

The 53-year-old from Gillingham reckons you do not see enough of that these days.

“You’ve still got to keep the ball out of the net,” he replies when asked how things have changed since the time he spent five years as undisputed first choice for top-flight West Brom.

“If anything I think keepers have got worse.

“I see keepers diving the wrong way too many times and I think that is basically because they are giving up on it or they are gambling.

“You can’t gamble in football. You’ve got to stand up and save the ball the way it’s going.

“Now you’ve got keepers who can kick well or keepers who are agile or keepers who can come and take crosses.

“You’ve also got keepers who are 6ft 6in and don’t want to come and take crosses.

“I think when I played we had better all-round keepers.

“That’s my ideal coaching, that a keeper is the first line of attack and last line of defence.”

Godden will be moving south from Peterborough, where he finished his playing career in 1990 and has lived ever since.

Subsequent years have seen him coach at the Posh, Northampton and Derby and undertake a varied role at Rushden and Diamonds.

“I did every job there including caretaker manager for a while,” he said.

“I was promoted with Peterborough, with Northampton twice and with Rushden so it looks good on the CV but my main thing is experience.

“I can push my experience to all the keepers, including Michel Kuipers, who’s 35 and still learning from me as I’m still learning from him.”

Godden was invited to help Albion by Micky Adams shortly before he left the club, then asked to stay on by caretaker Dean White and new boss Russell Slade before being offered the permanent role.

He said: “It was nagging at me to say yes. It just felt right. The club was sold to me by Russell coming in, it was sold to me by Tony Bloom taking a more active role now.

“It’s a club that has persuaded me they want to go places but with a plan in mind for the foreseeable future. We want to put a plan in place for when, and I say when, we win promotion.

“There’s no rush. If you build something quickly it falls down quickly.

“We’re trying to build a foundation for the club. Whether we’re here for the end of it you will have to wait and see.”

As well as Kuipers, Godden will oversee new signing Graeme Smith, new professional Josh Pelling and three youth teamers.

Even elder statesman Kuipers might need reminding of the heights Godden scaled as a player a few years ago now.

Although he once saved two penalties for Chelsea in a win at Old Trafford, that West Brom side was the one everyone was talking about back then.

Godden made 267 League appearances for a top-five side who also reached semi-finals in FA and League Cups and impressed in the UEFA Cup.

The usually reliable youtube.com does not do Godden any favours in their small collection of goal-laden WBA classics.

But a moment the cameras did not capture, when he replaced veteran John Osborne in the first team, will always live with him.

He said: “I made my debut, Tottenham away, when I was 18. After the game I hadn’t got out of the 18-yard box when Johnny Osborne is out there, in his suit, swinging me around because we won 2-0.

“Being a young lad I didn’t think too much of it but after my dad pulled me and said ‘that guy’s a hell of a man’.”

That sort of all-for-one spirit could go a long way to helping Godden’s new Albion reach their long-term goals.