England national football team is one of the most respected teams in the world. Although they haven't won many titles and trophies, this national team is known to have a lot of great players. They always managed to show an entertaining appearance on a pitch. One more thing to remember, this country has produced many outstanding goalkeepers.
In this article, I would invite you to look back at England international football history by presenting the profiles of fifteen best goalkeepers of the country. Among them, who do you think deserves the title as the greatest English goalkeepers of all time?
15. Ian Walker
During the 19 years of his career as a professional footballer in the period of 1989-2008, Walker played for three English Premier League clubs, Leicester City, Tottenham Hotspur, and Bolton Wanderers. His performance as a goalkeeper was quite stable, although somewhat mediocre. Walker never showed outstanding performance, but also never made a fatal blunder, a thing that is often done by some of England goalkeepers in this list. One of his best achievements was winning the League Cup in 1999 with Tottenham Hotspur.
14. Scott Carson
Scott Carson is one of the few English goalkeepers who had a career abroad. He played in Turkish League with Bursaspor from 2011 to 2013 before returning to Wigan Athletic. Carson actually projected as the future Liverpool's goalkeeper, but failed to get a place in the first team after he was loaned to various clubs such as Aston Villa and Charlton Athletic. This player also briefly played for England national team in four international matches.
13. Peter Bonetti
Long before the era of Petr Cech, Peter Bonetti was the number one goalkeeper of Chelsea. This player played for the Blues for 18 years. During his career, Bonetti dubbed as "The Cat" because of his great reflexes and very elegant style. Not only that, he is also known to have a good throwing ability. He can throw the ball as far as if he kicks it. His best achievement as a Chelsea player was winning the Winners Cup in 1971.
12. Robert Green
This player was actually considered one of the English goalkeeper who would shine, but it turned out that Green failed to fulfill that expectation. He performed very impressively with Norwich City in the Championship Division, where he recorded 18 clean sheets and conceding just 39 goals from 46 appearances. Green the Norwich won the Championship League in the 2003-2004 season and the club earned a promotion to the Premier League. At that time, Green was trusted as the first-team goalkeeper of England. Unfortunately, Green made a fatal mistake in the World Cup 2010, where he failed to catch a weak long-range shot in a match against the United States. Since then, he lost the trust and got a chance to play as a starting goalkeeper for England.
11. Tim Flowers
Tim Flowers is a retired goalkeeper who was lucky enough to be able to be an English Premier League champions with Blackburn Rovers, in between the domination of Manchester United, Arsenal, and Chelsea in this competition. He joined Blackburn from Southampton in 1993, with a transfer fee that made him the most expensive goalkeeper at that time. Flowers also played in 11 matches for England and he was included in the Euro 1996 and World Cup 1998 squad.
10. Nigel Martyn
Martyn's golden years as a goalkeeper happened when he played for Leeds United from 1996 to 2003. During the seven-year career at the club, Martyn was trusted to be the number one goalkeeper for six seasons. He was even awarded the title as Leeds United's best goalkeeper of all time by the club's fans. In England national team, Martyn had a role as a reserve goalkeeper for David Seaman and played in 23 matches for the Three Lions.
9. Paul Robinson
Robinson is the person who replaced the position of the main goalkeeper, Nigel Martyn, when he played for Leeds United. His career shone brighter when he played for Tottenham Hotspur from 2004 to 2008, a place that helped him earn the position as the first goalkeeper of England. Unfortunately, he made a fatal blunder in a Euro 2008 qualification stage when he missed a kick to a slow pass from Gary Neville, resulting an own goal. Putting the flaw aside, Robinson is known as a very good goalkeeper. He also scored two goals during his career, one from a corner kick situation, and another is from a long-range free kick.
8. Joe Hart
After the era of David Seaman, Joe Hart is considered the most talented and charismatic goalkeeper in England national team. This player was part of the Manchester City team that won the Premier League in 2011-2012. His performance with England national team is also quite impressive, where Hart successfully recorded 19 clean sheets in 38 games. Hart also three times in a row was named as the best goalkeeper of Premier League from 2010 to 2013.
7. David James
David James is a goalkeeper who had a long career in the Premier League. He spent 26 years of his career as a professional player playing for many Premier League clubs, such as Liverpool, West Ham United, Manchester City and Portsmouth. James also briefly held the record as the player with most appearances in the Premier League, before the record was broken by Giggs Ryang in 2011. Throughout his career, he played 53 times for England and recorded 21 clean sheets.
6. Ron Springett
Ron Springett was a reserve goalkeeper Gordon Banks in England national team that won the World Cup 1996. He is also known as a Sheffield Wednesday legend with the highest number of appearances for the club. Although he did not win any titles with Sheffield Wednesday, Springett was considered as a goalkeeper who had great ability. Before the emergence of Gordon Banks, he was selected as the first-team goalkeeper for the Three Lions. In total, Springett played 33 times for Engand national team in the 1959-1966 period.
5. Chris Woods
Chris Woods was England's first-choice goalkeeper in the early 1990s, after the retirement of Peter Shilton and before the emergence of David Seaman. This player played 43 times for the Three Lions and recorded 26 clean sheets. His best career occurred when he played for Glasgow Rangers from 1987 to 1991, where he won four Scottish League titles and four Scottish Cup trophoes. He was also the first-team goalkeeper of England in Euro 1992.
4. David Seaman
Seaman was part of the golden generation of Arsenal in the 90s, under the leadership of coach Arsene Wenger. With Arsenal, Seaman won three Premier League titles and four FA Cup trophies. Until now, he holds a record as goalkeeper with the most clean sheets in the Premier League, with a total of 120 clean sheets. Seaman was the first goalkeeper of England team in five major tournaments, Euro 96, World Cup 1998, Euro 2000, World Cup 2002 and Euro 2004.
3. Ray Clemence
Ray Clemence was Liverpool goalkeeper who helped the club win five Premier League titles and three League Cup trophies. During his career at Liverpool in the period 1967 to 1981, he played in 470 matches. His great goalkeeping skills and outstanding contribution made Ray Clemence is regarded as the best Liverpool goalkeeper of all time. Clemence also played in 61 matches for England national team.
2. Gordon Banks
Gordon Banks is a legendary England goalkeeper who led this team win the World Cup 1966. He was named the world's second best goalkeeper of the 20th century by the IFFHS. Not only that, Banks was also six times in a row won the annual FIFA Goalkeeper of the Year award in the 1966-1971 period. One of the best Bank's saves that will always remember was when he made a magical save that stop Pele's heading in 1970 World Cup.
1. Peter Shilton
Peter Shilton is the most appropriate player to be awarded the title of England's best goalkeeper of all time. The goalkeeper played for the Three Lions for 20 years, in the period 1970-1990. Shilton holds a record as goalkeeper with the most appearances for England national team, with a total of 125 appearances. He also has the most numbers of clean sheets, with a total of 66 clean sheets. Throughout his career, Shilton played for ten different English League clubs, among them are Leicester City, West Ham United, Stoke City and Nottingham Forest.
