Seaman says Hart is the Future

Since the World Cup winning days of 1966, England have been blessed with a plethora of talented goalkeepers. There always seemed to be a number of top class keepers battling for the number one jersey. This was epitomised in the seventies and eighties when England had both Ray Clemence and Peter Shilton at their disposal.

This strength in depth continued throughout the nineties with the likes of Chris Woods, Tim Flowers and Nigel Martyn all battling for the number one shirt. Of course there was one man who made the shirt his own during this period and that was the Arsenal legend David Seaman.

Representing England 75 times and appearing at two World Cups and two European Championships, Seaman represented his country every year for fifteen years. Now the former Queens Park Rangers and Manchester City keeper is working with Arsenal to try and produce the next batch of English goalkeepers.

“There is a shortage of goalkeeping coaches in England and I think this is contributing to the current situation,” describes Seaman. “A lot of Premiership managers would rather choose an experienced foreign keeper over a young English one.

“I started to see it happening ten years ago and I said it would be bad for English keepers. Until some sort of law comes in saying that you have to play an English keeper, then I will never be happy.”

In recent years England have struggled to find a permanent keeper with Rob Green, Paul Robinson, Scott Carson, David James and Ben Foster all appearing but never making the position their own.
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Seaman believes the problem is that the top clubs are looking elsewhere for the best talent. Last season there was only one English keeper regularly playing for a top ten club. That keeper was Joe Hart, who this season will be competing with Shay Given at big spending Manchester City.

“Joe is a great keeper and I think England should stick by him for the foreseeable future. He will be playing for a top club and gaining valuable experience. Plus Ben Foster should be playing every week and I don’t think we should cast aside Rob Green either.”

Green was one of the most consistent English keepers last season but endured a nightmare at the World Cup when one mistake cost him his place in the side. Seaman admits that he feels for the West Ham stopper and believes that he has been badly treated.

“Rob certainly didn’t become a bad keeper overnight. He made one mistake and he got hammered for it. Capello really needs to give him an explanation as it looks as though he has been completely discarded with not making the last squad.”

Seaman suffered similar abuse at a World Cup when Ronaldinho seemed to catch the experienced keeper flatfooted. He also knows the best way to recover from such an incident is to be able to play again as soon as possible.

“I am sure Rob is dying to get the chance to play for England again and get a good game under his belt. He certainly deserves another chance. It’s shame that he hasn’t got a move to a big club but if he continues playing well then he will attract interest.”

The former Arsenal man also believes that Capello needs to inform his keeper who is first choice. “In 1996 Terry Venables told me I was his number one and I got a huge boost in terms of confidence. I think that is why he got the best out of me.”

So who does Seaman see as England’s long-term keeper? “ For me it will be between Rob [Green] and Joe [Hart] with Ben Foster as number three. They will be good competition for each other and that always helps.”

With Fabio Capello declaring that he will look to the future, England fans will be hoping that the 23-year-old Joe Hart can go on to replicate the career of David Seaman and represent his country for the next fifteen years.

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David Seaman was speaking at the launch of Yahoo!’s online Barclays Premier League highlights – all the best bits from every Premier League game this season. Miss a game? We didn’t. www.yahoo.co.uk