Goalkeeping: Captain Marvel?

Can a goalkeeper be a captain? Can a goalkeeper make a good captain? If you are one of the special people whom don the goalkeeper gloves every weekend then you will already know the answer to this…..

YES!!!

If you are like I was as a player, then you knew that you were a leader. You knew that you could get your team to follow you into whatever battle was ensuing for the next ninety minutes; that was the way that I was as a player, I was a winner!

And because of this it may skew my opinions a little, but I had the privilege of being given the arm band at the majority of my clubs. I was always honoured when the manager would pull me aside after training, or call me in the middle of the day to say “I want you to be my Captain”. I loved those moments, as it showed a huge trust in me, not my ability, but in my personality.

I’ve always believed that a Captain should be an inspiration, not necessarily in what he says, but almost certainly in what he does. Actions will always inspire me, as words can be cheap if they cannot be backed up. When things are getting tough, I expect my Captain to lead, to inspire and to change his teams attitude.

A good Captain is worth a host of valuable points each season, a team without this leader has a ‘soft belly’ or an ‘Achilles heel’ if you will. And if that inspiration has to come from the last line of defence, then so be it….

We play football to win, full stop. I know full well that my ambition come quarter to five on a Saturday afternoon was to have those three points safely in the bag. If we’d played well then brilliant, however the three points were always the priority and I think that my Managers recognised that in me.

Whether the goalkeeper is the elder statesman of the squad (Shilton for England or Zoff for Italy) or relatively younger like Iker Casillas of Spain, is all irrelevant as long as they possess the inner spirit to be a winner.

So, can you lead from the back? Of course you can, your body language can be seen from the other penalty area and your voice can be heard from the neighbouring city! When you look across to your bench when you’ve just conceded and you see your Manager with his head in his hands, what inspiration have you just drawn? That we’re beaten, the manager has just given up.

However, you look over and see your manager being proactive, urging you to get the ball out of the net and back up field before issuing instructions to the winger standing nearest to him; you draw inspiration from this. His urgency and body language is all positive – he does not want to be beaten. That is a leader. A man with a Plan A, B and C who will not lay down for anyone. He cannot leave his technical area so therefore cannot directly influence play, but you can…

There are many ways to influence your team mates, maybe it’s a highly charged rollicking delivered directly in the face of your defender, maybe it’s the arm around the shoulder and an encouraging word in their ear but for a goalkeeper captain, it will mostly be through body language; a point of the finger, a thumbs up or a wink. It is the delivery of this that is vitally important, you must know which one to use and when for a 40 yard print across the pitch is never an available option for us!

Never allow yourself to believe that your team is beaten, never allow your tem mates to believe that either for as long as there is air in their lungs, then anything is possible. One goal can change a game, and your whole behaviour can dictate the attitude of your team mates. With or without the Arm Band, you are the leader….and winning feels great!