Goalkeepers' Union

Apologies for the slight delay this week. Travel arrangements (read: Rich on a plane) meant we had to hold off until Wednesday for a full rundown of the final weekend of league action, but hopefully a dose of standard goalkeeping goodness will make up for it.

Rather than delve into each Premier League game, we've instead opted to run through the goalkeeping landscape for each of this season's 20 clubs, analysing who may be in and out come the beginning of next term.

There's also a glance at the three EFL Playoff Finals. Ethan Horvath and Tomas Holy were on the winning side of two tense shootouts for Luton and Carlisle respectively, while Cam Dawson bagged a second promotion in as many seasons.

Once you've negotiated a rather unimaginable tale told by Richard Lee this week, you'll find plenty of analysis on the weekend's key performers in the world of goalkeeping.

David Raya pulled off a stunning double save at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (can it actually be credited as a "double save", though?), matched by decent stops from Sam Johnstone, David de Gea and Stefan Ortega - the latter receiving plenty of praise from Gary Neville as Man City beat Chelsea.

In the League Two playoffs, Ben Hinchcliffe was the hero for Stockport – albeit after Alex Cairns had pulled off a Save of the Weekend contender in the dying moments of extra-time – and over in Turkey, on loan Alex Runarsson sounded the klaxon for the second time this season during his spell with Alanyaspor.

There's a quick nod to Premier League PSxG stats, and we mention Maarten Stekelenburg - the one-time Dutch No1 who will be hanging up his gloves at the end of the campaign.

Big Dick, in the middle of our goal, Big Dick...

Another goalkeeper. Another unique goalkeeping story.

Richard O'Donnell sits down with GKU to recall a career with the type of twists and turns we've not heard from a previously featured guest.

From almost falling out of the game a year after his release from Sheffield Wednesday, to bouncing back with Walsall and then opting to join Wigan - a move which catalysed a series of new contracts with new clubs in a matter of just a few years - he tells his tale in an honest and reflective fashion.

As chilled as "down to Earth" guys go (quote: Steve Cotterill) Rich is right up there. Now 34 and off the back of yet another Player of the Year campaign, the next challenge awaits.

Bosnia's finest returns for another stint in the analyst's chair this week.

Asmir Begovic talks us through Everton's defeat at home to Man City, answering Roy Keane's criticism of Jordan Pickford in the process.

Jason Steele takes centre stage for his show-stopping performance at Arsenal, Dan Bentley receives a nod for impressing on his Wolves and Premier League debut and the return of Edouard Mendy is discussed.

In the epic National League Playoff Final, Archie Mair bags a mention not only for his penalty-saving heroics, but also for the fact he wears AB1 GK gloves.


And to finish things off, Asmir lifts the lid on his PFA Player of the Year selections, including his selected one to XI.

Onto the next feature interview we go, this time with the return of Richard Lee to the question-asking fold.

James Trafford may only be 20, but the Man City stopper already has a wealth of goalkeeping experience to draw upon.

From farmland beginnings in Cumbria to signing for The Cityzens at the age of 12, he talks GKU through a difficult first stab at professional football with Accrington, finding a temporary – and hugely successful – home in Bolton and learning alongside Xavi Mancisidor and Ederson et al at the Etihad.

Traff's a very uncomplicated, family-oriented chap whose growth both as a person and goalkeeper has been evident in the past 18 months.

A bright future awaits.

Another weekend of goalkeeping thrills and spills in the Premier League and EFL.

Jordan Pickford was vintage Jordan Pickford, David de Gea was what you could arguably describe as vintage David de Gea and Alisson racked up a 100th clean sheet in all competitions for Liverpool.

Of course, the real award goes to Lawrence Vigouroux who was finally crowned Clean Sheet Club King for 2022-23. Seny Dieng can also boast to bagging QPR's Goal of the Season for his late equaliser at Sunderland earlier in the campaign.

Contrasting fortunes in the Premier League this weekend.

Bernd Leno and Keylor Navas - the latter of which made one of the saves of the season in the midweek win over Brighton - both put in shifts to no avail in defeats for Fulham and Nottingham Forest respectively.

Neto, meanwhile, remains consistent for Bournemouth as one of the signings of the campaign - The Cherries looking safe for another year of top-flight football.

In the EFL, Lee Nicholls made a shock return in Huddersfield's huge victory over Cardiff, Sutton's Brad House lasted just 29 minutes into his first-ever professional start, and 39-year-old Glenn Morris scooped the Gillingham Player of the Year award.

Oh, and a definitive Clean Sheet Club King will go to the wire. Over to you, Christian Walton.

Just when you thought you'd heard all Norms' stories...

Another one from the Patreon vault this week with a Nottingham Forest and goalkeeping great.

As it goes, Norm couldn't help but hark back to those anecdotes with Mr Clough. However, we attempted to then delve a little beyond the brilliant but oft-told tales he's served up in after-dinner talks and podcasts elsewhere.

It's up there with one of the most enjoyable chats we've done. It's certainly the longest, that's for sure.

Please do enjoy. And, as we also always say, drop us a line on any feedback. We'd love to hear your thoughts.

Enjoy!

GKU

Yet another busy week across the Premier League and the EFL provided plenty of goalkeeping talking points.

Taking centre stage is David de Gea doing a job for Manchester United in their FA Cup semi-final triumph over Brighton - a game which saw Peter Schmeichel in the BBC studio for some welcome goalkeeping analysis.

Aaron Ramsdale, Illan Meslier and Hugo Lloris are also covered for much talked about performances, as is klaxon-sounding Corey Addai of Crawley. He bagged an assist in a massive win over League Two relegation rivals Hartlepool.

Today's Between the Sticks is a little different due to time constraints and Rich having to duck out on an emergency "Goalkeeping Super Agent" phone call.

Thankfully, a readymade replacement was with us in David Rouse - the ex-QPR and Stoke City goalkeeper coach possessing a bundle of knowledge on all things our favourite position.

Rather than analyse each individual tier as per, we instead picked a bunch of top-flight topics and let the conversation flow.

Key references include Kepa's second term under Frank Lampard, Jason Steele's ongoing popularity at Brighton and the new trend of having two goalkeepers on a Premier League subs bench.