25/04 - 20:00
To celebrate 30 years of the Premier League, Playmaker decided to something a little different. Instead of highlighting the usual names, we decided to pick our own unique five-a-side team from the PL era.
From Crazy Keepers to One Season Wonders, our 'Motley Crew' is bursting with personality and talent and - though it would definitely have its off days - we're confident that it would match up well against allcomers.
Here, we turn our attention to the mad, bad, and dangerous to know: the crazy goalkeeper!
Playmaker's 'Crazy Goalkeeper': The Candidates
Obviously, every goalkeeper is at least a little bit crazy – it’s the only reason to play in the loneliest position on the pitch where every mistake could cost your team the game. There’s a reason why Nobel laureate Peter Handke wrote a novella about a goalkeeper that goes mad, although obviously not every goalkeeper is a potential murderer like in the book.
We've picked 16 of the the league's loopiest to have a closer look at before narrowing down to the final four. Then we'll let you decide which one should be in our team terrifying opposition attackers.
'Mad' Jens Lehmann
©Getty / Alex Livesey
If you’re talking crazy ‘keepers then Jens Lehmann is one of the names that immediately pops to mind.
The German’s talents were sometimes overshadowed by his eccentricities – upon returning to North London in 2011 as an emergency backup goalkeeper he made the distinction of becoming the oldest player to play for the Gunners in the Premier League.
Lehmann was happy to roll around on the ground should an opposition player have the temerity to come near him. And he also had no problems getting stuck in if they did get too close. In fact, a mild form of GBH followed by a shameless dive was a big part of the Lehmann routine. His confrontation (if you can even call it that) with Didier Drogba was a true classic of the genre.
The German would do whatever he had to do in order to win a match, no matter how crazy. He could drag out taking a goalkick while his side had a narrow lead for hours if he had to.
Playmaker Verdict: Mad as a box of frogs, the German goalkeeper deserves a spot.
'Le Divin Chauve' Fabian Barthez
Eccentricity personified, Fabian Barthez was not your usual goalkeeper.
Firstly, he was small for a goalkeeper at 5’11 but he made up for it with an impressive leap and being an efficient penalty stopper. And secondly, he thought of himself as more of an outfield player than a goalkeeper.
While in the modern era every goalkeeper needs to have the first touch and passing of a classy midfielder, Barthez was doing it decades ago. His insistence was enough that he even managed to convince Sir Alex Ferguson to play him outfield during a friendly in 2001 against Team Singapore.
United won 8-1 allowing Barthez to play the final minutes up front, although despite some nice touches he didn’t manage to find his way ahead of Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the pecking order.
"He has been pestering the life out of me for ages,” said Sir Alex after the game. “So thank God that's out of the road now and he can go back in goal.”
To add to his reputation for craziness, Barthez turned to motor racing following his football career, including competing in the 2014 24 Hour of Le Mans against the likes of Giancarlo Fisichella, Bruno Senna, and the original Stig, Ben Collins.
Barthez was a uniquely loveable crazy goalkeeper that lit up the Premier League during his all-too-brief time in England.
Playmaker Verdict: Crazy in the coconut, Barthez was one of a kind.
The man who made baggy grey tracksuit bottoms cool, Gábor Király is easily one of the most recognisable figures in Premier League history.
The iconic joggers reflect a superstitious personality, after his black ones didn’t wash he swapped to grey with great success: "I went nine games in a row without losing in these grey joggers and only conceded twice in that run, it confirmed to me that the grey joggers brought me luck."
Indeed, when he started his Palace career he ended up missing three games after his pair was ripped in his debut against Hartlepool United to locate a backup pair of shorts that worked.
Shorts often didn’t work well for Király. In a game against Chelsea, the Hungarian goalkeeper elected for shorts and ended up letting a shot squirm through his legs. His trusty joggers would never!
With Palace’s relegation, charismatic Gábor stayed loyal to the Eagles and only returned to the top flight in a short-term loan to Martin O’Neill’s Aston Villa.
Although Király was never one of the best goalkeepers in the league, he was capable of magical moments just as much as he was capable of moments of madness.
But his save to stop Kevin De Bruyne’s freekick at EURO 2016 won save of the season – and it was a truly spectacular stop and showed exactly what he could do.
(And if you want to buy your own Gábor Király grey joggers, you can visit his online store)
Playmaker Verdict: There weren't any others like him.
Despite being an incredibly talented goalkeeper, Mark Bosnich’s true potential was held back by an addictive personality. Whether it was hard drugs or fast food, the Australian’s career was hampered by his own off-field issues.
That’s not why Bosnich makes the list though, on the pitch he exemplified why goalkeepers are always considered to be a bit different.
Perhaps the most famous on-pitch incident from Mark Bosnich isn’t the penalties he saved – although he had a fantastic record. It was his moment of madness that led to him impersonating Hitler and doing a Nazi salute against Tottenham Hotspur.
There were about five different reasons why that was a terrible idea and the goalkeeper received a fine and delivered a prompt apology to the Spurs fans.
But wherever Bosnich went, controversy usually followed him. Sir Alex Ferguson elected to bring the goalkeeper back to Old Trafford for a second stint. But even Fergie, the master of man management couldn’t deal with him.
"Mark Bosnich was a terrible professional," Ferguson said in his autobiography. "We played down at Wimbledon and Bosnich was tucking into everything: sandwiches, soups, steaks. He was going through the menu.”
While Bosnich appears to now be keeping many of his demons at bay in his life as a football pundit, he has still kept his larger-than-life personality.
Big thank you to Tracey & Darko from @QldPolice for helping me find @McDonalds and taking me to my hotel…xmb pic.twitter.com/ZQIxpPCn5R
— Mark Bosnich (@TheRealBozza) June 17, 2022
Playmaker Verdict: His personal demons got the best of him, but he really didn't help himself.
The nickname Calamity James always seemed a bit harsh for David James who, when he was at his best, was a remarkable goalkeeper who made some game-saving saves. But he was also prone to a total lack of concentration and barmy decision-making.
Early in his career, he had a 20-a-day smoking habit and famously blamed playing FIFA on the original Playstation for his lack of concentration. In that respect, he was way ahead of the current generation.
James' eccentric hairstyles also garnered much attention from the press. And while there were some absolute shockers over the years, Playmaker thinks generally James was stylish enough to pull them off… most of the time.
Those hairstyles reflected James’ more artistic side, with the goalkeeper a big fan of pop artist Roy Lichtenstein. He even appeared on Celebrity Mastermind with Lichtenstein as his specialist subject, answering three of eight questions correctly and occasionally answering ‘it’s coming home’ to questions he didn’t know the answer to.
But what really puts David James in the crazy goalkeeper category is his belief in his football skills further up the pitch. Even Stuart Pearce apparently shared it when he sent the goalkeeper to become a makeshift striker – ahead of an actual striker on the bench – as Manchester City battled for a UEFA Cup spot against Middlesbrough in simpler times at the Etihad Stadium.
His performance included a spectacular air shot and two ‘industrial’ challenges. It’s always worth a revisit.
Playmaker Verdict: Concentration was always the issue, perhaps he wasn't really crazy.
The talented England goalkeeper might not hit the heights of craziness as some of the other Premier League goalkeepers. But you feel there’s something simmering under the service of the Everton man, and it’s something he usuallu unleashes to his own defence when they’re not doing their jobs properly.
The Everton or England backlines are pretty used to a regular bollocking from their number one by now.
What Pickford does best is get under the skin of opposition players and fans alike. His exaggerated time-wasting against Liverpool was famously mocked by Allison although that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Pickford’s feud with the Toffees' city rivals.
Of course, the hatred of the Anfield faithful chiefly came from his… let’s say clumsy lunge on Virgil van Dijk. The Dutch defender was out of action for months and Pickford is unlikely to be forgiven any time soon.
Pickford is still just 28 years old, making him a pup in goalkeeping years. There’s still plenty of time for the former Sunderland player to grow a much larger rap sheet.
Playmaker Verdict: Showing early stages, any longer behind a defence like Everton's last season and he really will lose it!
The Premier League’s introduction coincided with the tail end of Bruce Grobbelaar’s illustrious career so we can’t include his wobbly knees in this ranking. Indeed, the Liverpool hero only played one and a half seasons with the Reds in the newly-branded division before moving to Southampton.
Indeed, much of Grobbelaar’s Premier League stint was cast under a dark shadow of a match-fixing scandal that after lengthy legal battles with The Sun ended in the goalkeeper’s bankruptcy.
Despite that, Grobbelaar could (and a strong emphasis on could) have played a role in the team winning the long-awaited Premier League crown under Jürgen Klopp.
The story is famous and silly, and exactly the kind of caper we expect from a crazy goalkeeper. Apparently, a witch doctor was at Bruce Grobbelaar’s testimonial and cursed the club, saying that they wouldn’t win the title without Grobbelaar.
The only way to break the curse was to urinate on each of the goalposts at Anfield. In 2019, Grobbelaar made clever use of a water bottle to do just that. The rest is history.
Bruce Grobbelar breaking the curse at the Annie Road end, Sunday 19th May 2019 😂#Champions pic.twitter.com/kqc7e6T8Wy
— btroake (@btroake81) July 13, 2020
Playmaker Verdict: Definitely one of a kind...
It’s been four years since Kepa made the big-money move from Athletic Club to Chelsea on a seven-year contract. The goalkeeper’s stint at Stamford Bridge has been marred by some poor form that led to the arrival of Édouard Mendy.
So perhaps Kepa is a little lucky to make it onto this list as the most high-profile moment of madness (or confusion) came in the League Cup.
Chelsea reached the 2019 Carabao Cup final to take on Manchester City with the game heading towards penalties. Maurizio Sarri was ready to bring on veteran Willy Caballero to take Kepa’s place but the Basque goalkeeper refused to budge.
The confusion was eventually cleared up after the game and in a 2021 interview, Arrizabalaga explained: "Suddenly, I saw that the coach, Maurizio Sarri, had sent Willy Caballero to warm up. He thought I couldn't go on.
“My intention, right or wrong, had only been to waste time to help the team. I didn’t have any serious problem that was going to keep me from continuing to play."
Honestly, we’d have preferred him to have done it on purpose, it would immediately give him a better shot of becoming our ‘crazy goalkeeper’.
Playmaker Verdict: Not nearly mad enough. We'd prefer it if he stepped up his game.
Boruc was a hero at Celtic, where he earned the ‘Holy Goalie’ moniker. His strong Catholicism seemed to put him in constant controversy whenever Rangers were involved, he was even accused of inciting violence.
The Polish goalkeeper took it all in his stride though, he loved the Old Firm derby. Speaking in a 2019 interview with the Daily Record he said "You could see the middle finger pointing towards me or hear some vulgar cries. It made you want to live, that life became more colourful.”
His eventual move to the Premier League had to wait until 2012 when he joined Southampton from Fiorentina. His performances were generally consistent but during his second season in England, Boruc suffered the indignity of being lobbed as the Saints took on Stoke City. Asmir Begovic’s long kick bounced over Boruc’s head after just 13 seconds.
Not long after that game, Boruc tried to showboat with the ball against Arsenal with Olivier Giroud nearby. The Frenchman took full advantage. For every great Boruc performance – and there were plenty – a moment of madness like this was always potential.
To compound things more, in a game against Chelsea days after the embarrassing mistake against the Gunners, he broke his hand trying to stop a Demba Ba shot.
Boruc only recently retired following a stint with Bournemouth and a return to Legia Warsaw where he won the league. He’ll be having a testimonial game against Celtic, although there’s unlikely to be any controversy this time.
Playmaker Verdict: Left most of the craziness in Glasgow, sadly.
Juande Ramos signed Heurelho Gomes for Spurs after the Brazilian shot-stopper had been exceptional for PSV Eindhoven, where he is still fondly remembered.
However, his time at Spurs showed that he was an erratic goalkeeper who was capable of the stupid as well as the sublime. Sometimes the ball seemed to just bounce off Gomes on its way into the net.
Then, of course, there’s the Nani goal at Old Trafford. The Portuguese winger thought he had been fouled in the box. Nani hand-balled it but play continued, however in Gomes’ mind there was a freekick and as he was getting ready to take it, the United man cheekily stabbed the ball home. Play by the whistle and all that.
But Gomes was always a talented goalkeeper even if he seemed to be short on confidence in his stint at Spurs.
Eventually, Gomes found his way to Watford and showed some of his best form and although he still had his eccentricities from time to time he was named the Hornets' Player of the Season in the 15/16 season.
Playmaker Verdict: Eccentric verging on mad even if he has mellowed.
Record-breaker Budgie may have only played a handful of games in the Premier League but he still remains the oldest ever outfield player in the division’s 30-year history.
Injuries and suspensions meant that during the 1994/95 season Brian Horton needed to bring in backup for a goalkeeper. Budgie was the man to call, as his playing days were over he moved from club to club to fill in between the sticks.
In fact, Burridge was still working for Newcastle United when he was called up to replace Tony Coton at half-time… against Newcastle!
“I went out there and I had a blinder,” Burridge recalled years later. “I made three or four stops. I had to apologise to Kevin [Keegan, the Magpies manager] after the game and he said, 'Budgie, you have to do your job. We know what you're like.’”
Budgie played until the end of the season and his performances helped the Citizens beat the drop and he set the record that stands until this day in the process.
But how did Burridge manage to still be playing top-level football in his forties?
For one, he was way ahead of his team when it comes to nutrition. While other players were on the lash and happily eating whatever they wanted, Budgie was eating healthy and staying teetotal – at the time he really was crazy!
In his glory days, Burridge was the consummate entertainer, like when showing off his range of flips to the fans. To be honest, we could go on about him all day so we’ll just leave you with this tweet from the great man himself...
I’m as strong as bull . Have very good . Good Friday I’m back pic.twitter.com/4tbwiBt5Mw
— John Burridge (@TheBudgieTweets) April 2, 2021
Playmaker Verdict: Was he mad or just years ahead of his time?
Although Lukasz Fabianski has been a solid stopper for West Ham United since his arrival in 2018, when he first moved to the Premier League he was particularly error-prone. His time at Arsenal earned him the unfortunate nickname of ‘Flappyhandski’.
Since leaving Arsenal, those moments of madness have, for the most part, disappeared with experience. Back in January, Fabianski became the first Polish player to reach 300 Premier League appearances while keeping a clean sheet against Norwich City.
Now Fabianski has matured he has turned into an entirely different goalkeeper and has the convenient trait of being a magnet for bad penalties.
After Chelsea’s Jorginho delicately tapped the ball in Fabianski’s direction back in April, the goalkeeper confirmed that penalty takers often mess up in front of the big Pole: “To be honest, I have this thing for some really bad penalties”
“If you look at last season, the Lookman penalty wasn’t a good one as well. I don’t know what it is, maybe it’s my presence or something that scares them!”
Playmaker Verdict: Mostly makes penalty takers mad now!
Easily one of the most recognisable goalkeepers in history thanks to his dashing ponytail, David Seaman was an England and Arsenal legend.
Although his final years in football saw Seaman no longer the force he once was, in his heyday, he was one of the very best goalkeepers in the world.
Unlike some other keepers though, Seaman was able to relax. The Yorkshireman’s fishing hobby is well known and the ex-Gunner was once mad enough to take Paul Gascoigne with him.
Admittedly, it wasn’t Seaman’s idea. Former England manager Terry Venables came up with the idea during Euro 96 to try and calm Gazza down. Clearly, Gazza took the idea very literally by popping a sleeping pill before falling off the pier into the lake only for Seaman to have to use his safe hands to fish him out.
Unfortunately, many remember Seaman for two high-profile lobs, first by Nayim in the 1995 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final and, of course, the Ronaldinho one at the World Cup in 2002.
However, we’d rather leave you with one of his best bits…
Playmaker Verdict: Crazy in a nice way and his abilities are definitely underrated.
Jääskeläinen cost Bolton Wanderers just £100,000 – a fee he more than repaid in his performances for the Trotters over the years.
Perhaps the maddest thing Jääskeläinen did in his career was stay with the Wanderers despite interest from clubs like Arsenal, Manchester United, Real Madrid and AC Milan. The Finn instead felt more at home in Bolton rather than make a switch to Milan or Madrid – crazy!
On his day though, Jääskeläinen was a match-winner and was part of Sam Allardyce’s Bolton team that punched well about its weight thanks to the likes of Youri Djorkaeff, Ivan Campo, Jay-Jay Okocha, and Jussi himself.
After leaving for West Ham to follow Allardyce, Jääskeläinen wasn’t able to recreate the same magic he experienced in Bolton. Although he when he returned up north to close rivals Wigan Athletic he helped the Latics to a swift promotion from League One before the club drifted to the third tier again.
Playmaker Verdict: Crazy to spend so long in Bolton.
One of football’s great characters and his tale was a real rags to riches story, going from a binman to an Everton legend – Southall is a true working-class hero.
Southall stayed at Everton for 17 seasons in total and he famously almost became the manager until a foul-mouthed greeting.
Former Everton chairman Peter Johnson had rounded his candidates to succeed Joe Royle down to just two: Neville Southall and Dave Watson. Johnson was said to have been favouring Southall until Johnson and former communications director Alan Myers were outside Bellefield. Southall was just pulling up to start training bright and early when he kindly greeted Myers with ‘Alright Alan, you fat c*nt!’.
Watson ended up getting the job.
Now Southall has become a champion of various causes including greater representation of the LGBT+ community in football. In fact, he’s become an all-around great guy who has stuck to his roots.
Playmaker Verdict: Not totally crazy but we love him.
2005 was a simpler time: YouTube was born, Tom Cruise had fun jumping on Oprah’s couch, and we were all doing the Dudek.
The Polish goalkeeper (another one!) was the hero for Liverpool in the memorable Istanbul final that year and produced one of the most memorable moments in Champions League history with his double save to deny Andriy Shevchenko.
They weren’t all good times, especially towards the end as he accused Rafael Benítez of treating him like a slave after the arrival of Pepe Reina robbed him of a starting position.
The main reason Dudek was replaced is that for all of the out-of-this-world stops he produced he was also prone to errors. His mistakes led to Diego Forlán becoming a cult hero at Manchester United, for example.
Interestingly, Dudek eventually followed in the path of fellow mad goalkeeper Barthez by getting behind the wheel. In 2014 he competed in the Volkswagen Castrol Cup.
In an interview with FourFourTwo at the time, Dudek said about his new profession: “My position in goal is about making quick decisions during the game. When you are racing in the car, you have to do the same, especially when you have to defend or attack, and control the car.”
We recommend you do not ‘du the Dudek’ while driving.
Playmaker Verdict: Du the Dudek wasn't mad... it was brilliant.
So, after a quick walk through the Premier League's goalkeeping Arkham Asylum we've whittled it down to just four.
Here they are:
Fabian Barthez
Jens Lehmann
Neville Southall
Gábor Király
Who's going to make the cut? You decide!
🗳And with the list whittled down to just four, it's your turn to decide which crazy goalkeeper will make it into our #PL 'Motley Crew'...
— playmakerstats (@playmaker_EN) June 29, 2022
And when you're done, don't forget to vote in our 'Enforcers' poll... it's democracy in action!
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NameFabien Alain Barthez Born/Age1971-06-28(52 -yrs-old) Nationality France PositionGoalkeeper | |
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