[Archived] Goalkeepers

[Blueboy Downunder]

I am just discussing the subject with my pal. our brad and how he compares to others we have had down the years.

personally i am trying to figure who has been the best in my time as a rovers fan in tim flowers v brad friedel...weighing up all the pro's and cons etc etc. i think brad certainly has a better aerial command of his area but tim was just a superb keeper on many different fronts.

[Billy Castell]

Friedel, Flowers and then Filan for Rovers goalkeepers. I know I'll be the only one here, but I loved Peter Schmeichel as well. Great fun watching him go mental whenever Pallister or Bruce conceded a corner.

[joey_big_nose]

Flowers was great, but he wasn't as good as Friedel. Brad is the best we have had in my time supporting Rovers and I would say one of the top 3 keepers in the Prem with Cech and Given (another former Rover).

[Billy Castell]

Completely forgotten about Given. OK swap him for Filan. Flowers should have been sold, and Given encouraged to sign a contract with the promise of being number 1 goalie. Remember seeing him on TV whilst he was on loan at Sunderland and thinking "now he really has a future".

[Mr. E]

Only Alan Shearer overshadows Brad Friedel for best Rovers player in my time, so he easily gets it for the GK's. I still wound's swap him for anyone in the world.

[Wild Irish Rover]

Brad is a great keeper, yet Rovers have always had a tradition of excellent but not 'showy' keepers between the sticks. I'd certainly put the likes of Roger Jones, Terry Gennoe and Jim Arnold up there with big Brad. All could be counted on to pull off some magnificent stop when needed to.

[Modi]

Completely forgotten about Given. OK swap him for Filan. Flowers should have been sold, and Given encouraged to sign a contract with the promise of being number 1 goalie. Remember seeing him on TV whilst he was on loan at Sunderland and thinking "now he really has a future".

You can't honestly include Given in any list of Rovers keepers - he only appeared 3 times!

40% of fans rate Brad the best

[Blueboy Downunder]

in my time of being a rovers fan, i don't remember that many keepers but ones that spring to mind are TG, vince o'keefe, mark grew, darren collier, matt dickens, tim flwoers, and big brad. as far as i can recall i can't ever remember us having a BAD goalie...as such. you take vince o'keefe as a back up to TG and i shall never forget that display for us in 1987 at wembley from vince. mark grew became a fan favourite in the 3 months that he was here at rovers, with some fine displays.

over the years, we have been very fortuante to have some outstanding goalkeepers wear our shirt.

[Plastic Head]

Friedel is VASTLY superior to Flowers in every aspect.

Remember Tim once went half a season without making a save. Every shot on target went in.

My list since I started going would be:

1 Jim Arnold

2 Brad Friedel

3 Roger Jones

4 Paul Bradshaw

5 Bobby Mimms

6 Terry Gennoe

7 Shay Given

8 John Filan

9 Tim Flowers

10 Vince o'Keefe

11 Alan Kelly

12 John Butcher

13 Darren Collier

14 Neil Ramsbottom

15 Marlon Beresford

16 Matt Dickens

[Silencio]

Friedel is VASTLY superior to Flowers in every aspect.

Remember Tim once went half a season without making a save. Every shot on target went in.

My list since I started going would be:

1 Jim Arnold

2 Brad Friedel

3 Roger Jones

4 Paul Bradshaw

5 Bobby Mimms

6 Terry Gennoe

7 Shay Given

8 John Filan

9 Tim Flowers

10 Vince o'Keefe

11 Alan Kelly

12 John Butcher

13 Darren Collier

14 Neil Ramsbottom

15 Marlon Beresford

16 Matt Dickens

Surely Grew would be ahead of Collier, Beresford or Dickens?

[Plastic Head]

Surely Grew would be ahead of Collier, Beresford or Dickens?

Missed out on him...but he was only ever on loan wasn't he?

Mind toy Beresford was also...

[ABBEY]

WHERES THE YUGO KEEPER WE ONCE HAD?

was it loan or trial or something..

hahahaha john butcher "sceptic toe"...i always remember a reserve game when i was about 9 ,my dad took me and (no idea who it was against) and this player took a free kick and sceptic dived and as the player miskicked and took a divot ,butcher dived and saved the divot and the ball hit the net.

[den]

Friedel is VASTLY superior to Flowers in every aspect.

Remember Tim once went half a season without making a save. Every shot on target went in.

My list since I started going would be:

5 Bobby Mimms

6 Terry Gennoe

Wouldn't that be wrong?

[den]

You can't honestly include Given in any list of Rovers keepers - he only appeared 3 times!

40% of fans rate Brad the best

Maybe they're thinking of the best ever Newcastle goalkeepers.

[HugeChin]

My favourite keeper was Bobby Mimms. Thanks to him I get the majority of the squad's autographs.

He was also a penalty saver extraordinaire.

[Blueboy Downunder]

plastic, shay given can't possibly be included in your list...the lad played but 3 matches for us!!

now what are we basing our opinions on, as far as how we rate these keepers?? what they ahcieved in terms of trophies, which wouldn't be many or in terms of ability? personally i always thought that boddy was a better goaly than folks gave him credit for. i still can't split brad and timbo!!

[den]

You could use This BB.

[wakefieldblue]

Jim Arnold was fantastic and I was gutted when Howard Kendall took him to Everton along with Messrs Bailey and Heaton. Didn't he come from a non-league team too?

What about Simon Garner...seem to re-call him donning the gloves once or twice? Cna't remember who against just remember his goal kicks were better!

[Redrose49er]

I'd certainly place Brad above Flowers, although let's not be too short sighted, Flowers was in the Premier League winning side and an England squad regular. As a kid, my favourite was always Gennoe or Geeennooowww!

[RoversFanUSA]

Well seeing as i play keeper and grew up here in the states watchin big Brad play. I have to say hes my favorate player of all time. Plus i think if we could have talked hiim into playing for us in the last world cup we would have done a hell of a lot better then havin that chump casey keller.

[McClarky]

My favourites have been Freidle, Gennoe. Flowers & Arnold - probably in that order. We have had afew dodgy ones as well though, particularly Butcher, O'Keefe (apart from FMC Final) & Kelly.

[Fife Rover]

I have seen every keeper that Rovers have had since WW2 ended with the exception of Grew (whoever he was). It would be difficult and a very long list to put them in order of Best to Worst (as I see it) so will not attempt it. Suffice to say that after much thought and consideration I rate Friedel as the best, but only just, with a 3 way tie for second place between Else, Jones and Marks (Alphabetical order) and either Gennoe or Flowers in 3rd.

After that it is a lottery. We have had so many very good keepers and some very notable and memorable ones that could be absolutely brilliant one day and awful the next. Harry Leyland for instance.

If I could just point out also that this Keeper rating task is made very difficult (even impossible) because of the fact that football today bears almost no resemblance to football 40 and then again 60 years ago. These are the "eras" where there were massive (but gradual) changes to the way football was played, and even in the actual aim of the game. What I mean by that is that in today's game the first objective is to play "not to lose" and then, if you can, try to win it or settle for a draw. This approach requires a very good defensive system and also a good midfield that can switch very quickly from defence to attack. The whole of that is complemented by a strike force of varying importance and even they are required to defend from the front. Consequently the keepers are called upon much less on average than they used to be. In the old days with a 2-3-5 formation the objective in every game was to win, win , win. Defence was very much a secondary consideration and consequently the keepers were in action far, far more than they ever are these days. The emphasis was on all out attack and " we will score more goals than you do " approach. I know some will disagree, but you really would have to have witnessed the game over this 60 odd year period to be able to judge honestly.

[Fife Rover]

Edit: Whoops it went in twice!

[tcj_jones]

So close between Friedel and Flowers for me. I think Friedel is probably the better keeper, purely because of his amazing shot stopping abilities, but for some reason I just think I like Flowers that bit more.

I have fond memories of being a kid and seeing Dimitri Kahrine make a fair few penalty saves with his legs. We'd try and emulate it at school on the field and "do a kahrine."

[Eddie]

Friedel for me. Flowers was a great keeper too, but I think Friedel is the more skilled and would probably be more loyal to the club.