The keeper dilemma

It has been a source of frustration that in my extended family I have just one relative who is interested in football, a son-in-law who is a season ticket holder at Southampton and is very sensitive about any discussion of the club.

I was therefore pleased and surprised to learn at the weekend that my eldest granddaughter's partner has been training with one of the country's oldest non-league clubs and has joined the squad as a goal keeper.

Keepers have always fascinated me ever since I watched Sam Bartram.  Dean Kiely was another hero.

Yet keepers attract far smaller fees than outfield players in general.   Curbs certainly got a bargain when he signed Kiely from Bury.

Success at the highest level of the game seems to depend on high-quality goalkeeping. And yet that importance is not reflected in what clubs have traditionally been willing to spend on the position.

The comparison with other positions is startling. Spending on forwards and midfielders long ago breached the £100m mark.  In transfer market terms, goalkeepers lag behind. Why?

Historically, one obvious explanation stands above others: attacking players are more fun and fashionable, and it’s easier to measure their worth.   Goalscorers have a clear value, and that is as true now as it was in the late 19th century. Attacking players are also more regularly associated with exciting, game-changing moments, memories that have always justified their value.

That mattered because, for many years, transfer spending depended on convincing club directors of a player’s worth. In Jonathan Wilson’s biography of Brian Clough, he recalls the then-Nottingham Forest head coach facing “murmurings from the board” after spending £270,000 on goalkeeper Peter Shilton in 1977. Clough described a member questioning why so much money was being spent on a player who “would not be involved for 85 minutes of a game”.   Of course, that is less true nowadays with sweeper keepers.

Ian Graham was director of research at Liverpool between 2012 and 2023. He is also the author of the book How to Win the Premier League, published in 2025. He told The New York Times that analysing goalkeepers remains comparatively difficult for most clubs: “The most important thing goalkeepers do — stopping shots — is captured very well by the data, but (as with all football data) it’s easy to analyse it wrongly. The other aspects of play are also much more difficult.

“For instance, traditional data providers are not good at capturing whether a goalkeeper tried to claim a cross or corner. Instead, they often record only when there’s an error or a success. You need tracking data to capture goalkeeper ability properly. For instance, calculating whether they could or should have come out for a cross or corner requires significant modelling beyond what most clubs can do in-house.”

A scout for a Champions League club told the NYT “What’s really strange is that you meet a lot of scouts who say: ‘I don’t really know much about goal keepers’. I do it myself. And with other positions that would never be accepted. Imagine if you said: ‘Oh, I don’t really know much about wingers?’.

Another analyst commented: There’s not as much fluctuation in the position — you don’t need to make a change every second season. If you sign a goalkeeper, sometimes they stay for five, six, seven or eight years. It’s not that it’s easier to find a goalkeeper, but you probably have more time to prepare when you do have to sign one.’

Many clubs encourage stability, particularly around their goalkeepers. While competition and depth are seen as positives in most outfield positions, the same thinking is not often applied to goalkeepers, who benefit from trust and faith and are not subject to the same rotation. Most teams have a designated first choice and do not spend heavily on reserve ‘keepers partly to avoid that unrest.

A scout for a Premier League team made a further point: “How many top goalkeepers are there that you would spend a large fee on? There are fewer than 10 right now, and all of them are starting for top clubs. Gianluigi Donnarumma was available last summer, but that was unusual.

“There’s a supply and demand problem. The best clubs sign goalkeepers and stick with them, so they don’t buy very often. There are not many goalkeepers that are worth that kind of investment, so that’s another factor. And those that are worth it aren’t moving clubs anyway.”

Talent production is a different issue. Many more youngsters grow up wanting to score goals rather than save them. The position also requires a particular size and build, which is another filter.

 

 

 

Deano recalls his amazing time at Charlton

Richard Cawley has a long and very interesting interview with Dean Kiely on his Substack platform.  Here a few extracts.

"Charlton gave me the opportunity to get into the Premier League."

“I didn’t just stand and watch a team rip apart or blow away sides every single week. I had stuff to do, I was flying around and making a contribution, but I was really mindful this team at Championship level was a very, very good team."

“The sweet spot was that it was my best form and my best time individually, but it coincided with Charlton’s best time as a club in recent times. People talk so fondly about it. I remember beating Arsenal at home. Beating Chelsea, Tottenham and Kevin Lisbie’s hat-trick when we defeated Liverpool. All those things, in the moment, are great achievements."

“My mantra was consistent, reliable and dependable. People might say: ‘That isn’t take your breath away match-winning saves or penalty saves’. But by being consistent, reliable and dependable that gave you the level to make you do that."

"I fitted in at Charlton. It fit me and I fitted the club. My family felt connected. Everything was good. It was an amazing time."

Deano's dad lived down the road from me and I ran into Deano a couple of times at Leamington matches, he was always very friendly.

Kiely ranks alongside Bartram

After last week's article on Sam Bartram, I look at Charlton goalkeepers after Sam Bartram, starting with Eddie Marsh and selecting Dean Kiely as the one I rank alongside Bartram: https://retrocharlton.blogspot.com/2021/06/they-also-kept-goal.html

Former keeper becomes international coach

Former Charlton keeper Dean Kiely is to be the goalkeeping coach for Ireland's international squad: https://www.fai.ie/ireland/news/dean-kiely-appointed-to-ireland-goalkeeper-coach-role 

Apart from Sam Bartram, Deano is my favourite all time Charlton keeper.   His parents lived half a mile down the road from me and we had a good chat once at Leamington where his son was keeper for a while.

Dyer in as No.2

A number of different sources are reporting that Alex Dyer has been appointed as assistant to Chris Powell. One of them is here: Dyer

It is still possible that Dean Kiely will be brought in to strengthen the backroom staff.

Dyer played for Charlton on loan in 1990 and was then signed for £100,000 by Sir Lennie Lawrence, a bargain price considering he cost Palace £250,000 only two years later.

Dyer has proved a popular coach at the Hampsters where he has been in charge of the reserve team.

Deano gets coaching role

Dean Kiley has been given the job of goalkeeping coach at the Baggies: Deano

Deano says that he gets positive vibes from the atmosphere at the Baggies in the way that he did at Charlton.

Another Charlton veteran, 40-year old Chris Powell is hanging up his boots at the end of the season. Many hope that one day he might have a coaching or management role at Charlton.

Kiely gets scapegoat player status

For some moaners at Harbury Lane (a minority I have to emphasise) Deano's son Chris Kiely has become the scapegoat player after Leamington conceded four goals on Saturday. 'Get rid of him,' the Bloke Beside Me shouted, waving his walking stick.

The main problem in my view was not Kiely but the fact that the team lost its shape for parts of the match (partly because they were stretched by the Bluebirds) with the midfield going awol at times and failing to cover the defence. In fact, very reminiscent of Charlton last season.

Kiely is a good shot stopper but he is relatively short and he finds dealing with crosses more difficult. This is not helped by the lack of tall defenders in front of hin. Centre back Dan Pirvu who played for a top Romanian side and then went on to play in Austria is a quality player and another real find for the Brakes, but he is not very tall.

One difference between Kiely and his dad is that he kicks the ball out accurately and not out of play which Deano was inclined to do from time to time.

This afternoon Brakes face a needle away derby at Rugby Town.

Expect more defeats warns supremo

Fans have been warned to expected more defeats this season than last. Fortunately, it's not Charlton we're talking about but Leamington where something like five losses a season have been the norm.

But now the Brakes have been promoted to the Zamaretto Premier League and their first match is away to Farnborough who are tipped for automatic promotion. Brakes supremo Jason Cadden has warned that it may take three seasons to get promotion to the Conference North or South - and in any case the New Windmill Ground is not up to the required standard.

Cadden was featured in 'Star Corner' in last weekend's Non-League Paper and stressed the importance of the signing of Deano's son, Chris Kiely, as keeper. But Cadden has admitted that Leamington players are often targetted by bigger clubs and keeping the squad together is a challenge.

In an interview with a local paper Cadden said that the FA Cup run that had ended in defeat at the hands of Colchester United has probably cost Leamington promotion that year. However, this year they may focus a little more on the cups as the pressure of expectation is off.

An idea for Sparrows Lane?

Colo Colo from Santiago is arguably one of Chile's biggest clubs, but they haven't been doing too well this season. Fans are allowed to attend training sessions in a stand and they started barracking the coach. He walked over to them and gave as good as he got.

A guy in a shop in Santiago Airport asked me which team I supported. When I replied Charlton and said it was in London, he replied, 'You mean Chelsea?'

Elsewhere, keeper Richard Morris has walked out on Leamington and joined Brackley Town after nine seasons with the Brakes. The club had announced their attention to sign Dean Kiely's son Chris on a permanent basis when his contract with Gillingham expires. Kiely came in on loan when Morris was injured last season and looked like a chip off the old block.

Deano at Brakes, Chris for Charlton?

Dean Kiely is to be the guest of honour and will present the awards at Leamington's annual presentation evening on May 8th.

One rumour I heard yesterday at The Valley - and it is no more than that - is Chris Kiely may be drafted in as a back up keeper at Charlton when his loan spell at the Brakes ends, rather than returning to the Gills. It is a pretty unlikely story as:

1. His dad may not want him to go to Charlton given that he left feeling frozen out.
2. We have a well thought of No.2 in Randolph (although there have been questions raised about his attitude and he may want to go somewhere he can be No.1).
3. Callum Christie has already played in the reserves, although since then he has had a niggling injury.

What I did hear from a reliable source is the substantial size of Andy Gray's salary. Anyone who read the Greenwich Mercury this week will feel sympathetic about Andy's family health problems (personally I think it would have been better to put this out in the public domain before now, but one has to respect the player's wishes). This must have been a burden on Andy and since then he has picked up a footballing injury.

It's another example of our bad luck as I think that he does have real quality. However, if he doesn't leave in the summer, we are probably going to have to loan him out as he is contracted to us until 2011 (see Deepest Darkest who has done an in depth study of when contracts expire).