Changing the guards

When England’s three finest take to the Champions League fields this week, none will have an English keeper – in fact, not one of the Premiership top six has. Simon Lewis reports.

IT used to be a given about goalkeepers, and we're not talking Shay here. England always used to have at least one they could call world class. Many England managers even had two to choose from and it was other countries who had the clowns.

These days, though, the Alan Roughs and Jan Tomaszewskis of the goalkeepers' union are Englishmen and the reality of such a situation heading towards Euro 2004 is no laughing matter in the country that boasted a shot-stopping lineage from Frank Swift through Gordon Banks, Peter Shilton and Ray Clemence to David Seaman.