TEN (AND A BIT) YEARS OF KEEPING THE FAITH
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In TTP 39 I’d taken a look at the whereabouts of some of our former players, and noted that there were more than a few keepers who had plied their trade at EP, who were now performing elsewhere. I ended that piece by saying that I’d return to the question of keepers, given the number that had passed our way. It seems to be a recurring theme – in the dark days of the early 2000’s as we tumbled from the 2nd to the 4th Tier, there were a couple of seasons where we saw 4 different keepers each season.
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The pages of TTP often remind us of those we have admired, (or not!), from the terraces and last issue I commented on the number of keepers who have been connected with County who are still appearing in the League. The men in green, (or these days psychedelic beachwear!!), because of the nature of their job perhaps those who we remember most vividly because at the end of the day whatever the merits or otherwise of the 10 in front of them the ‘goals against’ column is a measure of achievement. We all know that Muggleton and Kite are objects of ridicule; that Edwards had a marvellous spell prior to his injury and Gorton was a total one off – but what the statistics show. Over the last 10 seasons how did our custodians fare – do the figures prove what we all know or is it a case of lies damn lies and…..
I suppose a fair measure of the keepers worth is the number of goals conceded per game. Equally I think that the proportion of clean sheets is also a valid comparison. The keeper is dependant on his defence and consequently it’s arguable that a good No 1 can look bad without effective support but overall he’s paid to keep the ball out of the net and must be judged on the extent to which he manages to achieve this. Armed with some old programmes I looked at the 17 men who have stood between the sticks since the start of the 1984/85 season up until the Swansea game this year – the stats are reasonably illuminating.
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At the top of the tree Cooper is a surprise but at only a goal a game conceded and more than a third of his appearances resulting in a clean sheet it’s difficult to argue. Muggleton’s position as runner up is clearly an example of proving anything with figures whilst Kite shows that statistics can’t lie.
Further back in time Salmon as the second most regular keeper, and from my recollection not a bad one either, obviously suffered from playing in a truly inept team and Walker and Farnworth who shared the duties under Melia sadly have to face up to the fact that the figures prove that they were a party to the darkest hours. In third position the one and only Andy Gorton shows what a talent that he wasted – maybe it’s true that all the best keepers have a screw loose. If that’s so he would have worn the England jersey for many moons.
At the end of the day it is possible to demonstrate anything with figures. When we stand on the terraces it’s all about opinion and the only number that counts as far as keepers are concerned is the ‘against’ column in the League table. But for what it’s worth I’ll back my judgement on these statistics and say with only just over a goal a game conceded and almost 4 games in 10 showing a clean sheet,and also managing to achieve this over 140 games, that these figures demonstrate that Neil Edwards has been the most accomplished and ultimately the most successful keeper over the last 10 years.
December 1994
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