Barthez hands shirt to Howard
Not only was the 24-year-old told not to play in goal as a youngster by his mother, he could also have been a prized asset of Manchester City.
A poor display from Fabien Barthez in Wednesday’s 3-1 friendly defeat at Stoke has almost certainly handed Howard his opportunity when United open the defence of their Premiership crown against Bolton at the weekend.
A £2.3 million summer recruit from American side MetroStars, Howard impressed in high-profile encounters with Juventus and Barcelona on United’s pre-season tour of the United States and emerged a hero from the Community Shield win over Arsenal last Sunday.
Now he faces a Premiership baptism against Sam Allardyce’s outfit, who are seeking a hat-trick of Old Trafford wins. But, according to his former coach, it is only luck which turned Howard into a goalkeeper at all.
“Tim becoming a goalkeeper was a completed accident,” admitted Alan Jeffers, a former professional with Bolton, who moved across the Atlantic 20 years ago.
“I had Tim at the Central Jersey Soccer Club from around 12 years of age and, although he was one of my top five outfield players, he could never quite break into the New Jersey state side.
“It was only by chance that one of my colleagues decided the goalkeeper for the state team wasn’t good enough. Tim had quite useful handling skills because he played a lot of basketball and he also liked diving around a lot, so we asked him if he fancied playing in goal. His mother was completely opposed to it. Her other son had got hurt playing US football and was scared Tim would get injured.
“In the end, we managed to persuade her to compromise and she allowed him to play one half and no more. That went on for an entire season, after which Tim put his foot down and said he wanted to play all the time.” Howard made spectacular progress after that, so much so that Jeffers felt compelled to tip off a friend who did scouting work for both Bolton and Manchester City.
“I told him we had this fantastic kid and they had to check him out,” said Jeffers. “It was only when he found out United had signed him that he realised I had been deadly serious.”
If Howard does make his Premiership bow this weekend, he will become the latest American goalkeeper to play at the highest level in England, following in the footsteps of Brad Friedel and Kasey Keller.
Freidel was widely acknowledged to be the Premiership’s number one goalkeeper last term after an outstanding campaign for Blackburn, although, having watched both players at close quarters, Jeffers believes Howard can be better than his international colleague.
“If Brad can make it, Tim can too,” said Jeffers.
“Brad is obviously an excellent goalkeeper but I sometimes think he is a bit stiff. Tim is far more athletic but what he doesn’t have is the experience.”
Howard is likely to start gathering that on Saturday though, when Ferguson unveils his line-up for the opening game.
Although he has brought five new players in this summer, Howard will probably be the only one who begins the season.
Eric Djemba-Djemba and David Bellion have not quite done enough to force their way in and, after only signing for the club this week, the best either Kleberson or Cristiano Ronaldo can hope for is a place on the bench.
Their presence might mean Darren Fletcher is forced to watch from the stands, even though he was called into the Scotland squad for the first time by Berti Vogts yesterday.
Ronaldo has been called up for the first time by Portugal.
Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari selected the 18-year-old in his 18-man party for next week’s friendly match with Kazakhstan in Chaves, the latest in a series of preparatory matches for Euro 2004 when Portugal will be the host nation.
While the midfield and striking selections look relatively straightforward, Ferguson could face a problem in defence, where injuries look set to rule out Gary Neville and stand-in left-back Quinton Fortune.
Mikael Silvestre should be available to partner Rio Ferdinand in the heart of United’s rearguard, despite taking a battering at the Britannia Stadium last night, all of which leaves Ferguson hoping both Phil Neville and John O’Shea stay fit enough to play at full-back.
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