305: Pegguy Arphexad, Liverpool, The Official F.A. Premier League Sticker Collection 2003, 10th Edition, 33: Stuart Taylor, Aston Villa, Merlin’s F.A. Premier League Official Sticker Collection 2006/07, 339: Steve Harper, Newcastle United, Merlin’s F.A. Premier League 2000, Millennium Edition Sticker Collection and 152: Les Sealey, Manchester United, Pro Set English League 1990/91
Welcome to our 300th post! Thank you for sticking with us (and our awful puns) over the last couple of years and for all the requests, kind words and support for four mates who owe a lot to Wikipedia and the good people at Panini and Merlin. For those of you who have been with us since the beginning you may well have noticed we have a soft spot for a substitute goalkeeper. Only a few weeks after launching I felt the need to sing the praises of Carlo Nash, Rich followed shortly with a hymn to Bobby Mimms and since then Raimond van der Gouw, Frode Grodas, Lars Leese, Mark Beeney and Jordi Masip have all had their five hundred words. So when Rich happened upon some interesting news about Leicester City and Liverpool’s former bench warmer Pegguy Arphexad it seemed fitting to dedicate this landmark collaborative post to similar legends of the substitutes’ bench. We’ll let Mr Allinson take it from here.
Throughout the years on this blog, I have espoused the values of goalkeepers and in particular, back up goalkeepers. Regardless of their merits as a ‘keeper, or even as a person, I always have admiration for the man in the green jersey. If that man also has a penchant for keeping goal in trackie bottoms, then I’m all in for full-blown hero worship and no one pulled off this look better than Pegguy Arphexad.
I always thought Stuart Taylor defined the role of the reserve goalie better than anyone, but a quick look through Pegguy’s career history calls this into question. Over a career spanning sixteen years, he played for nine clubs, racking up a mere 39 games. Born in Guadeloupe, he started his career at Brest in 1989 after attracting their interest whilst playing for the Caribbean Island in an under-15s tournament in Paris. When he reflected on his move to France, Arphexad said “I moved over to France when I was 15. I found it hard at the start because back home it was sunny. You could go to the beach. It was a very nice life. When I came to Brittany the people were good, but the weather was really, really bad.” God knows what he thought when he later signed for Coventry City.
Whilst with Brest, Arphexad largely played second fiddle to Italia ‘90 hero Sergio Goycochea. However, despite what Wikipedia says, my research suggests Arphexad did actually play for the club, and rather wonderfully, with David Ginola. However, with the club having gone bust, all the players under contract were free to leave, and he signed for Lens. After a couple of years not doing a lot, Arphexad eventually played three games at the end of the 1995/96 season. This was then clearly enough to impress Lille as he went there on loan and notched up another two games. So, five(ish) games in eight years. He must have been frigging good in those matches as he then got a move to Premier League Leicester City. Or maybe not…
When talking about his transfer Arphexad said “I decided with my agent that if I could make a move I would. It came about by coincidence when I signed for Leicester. They were looking for an experienced goalkeeper. My agent told them I was experienced, but I wasn’t… I didn’t even know where Leicester was.” He may have pulled the wool over the Foxes’ eyes to an extent when joining the club, but he clearly earned Martin O’Neill’s trust as he racked up 21 appearances over a three-year period, including 18 appearances in his final season, as well as winning a League Cup medal as an unused sub. Overall, his spell in the East Midlands accounted for more than half of his total career appearances. More importantly, it started him on the silverware trail, one which was to become a “minimum in, maximum out” affair.
After leaving the Foxes, Pegguy signed for Liverpool in July 2000, where, alongside a loan spell at Stockport County, he predominantly acted as back up to Sander Westerveld, Jerzy Dudek, and Chris Kirkland over his three seasons at Anfield. Reflecting on the move years later, Arphexad said “Maybe I made the wrong decision and should have gone to a smaller team to be the first goalkeeper before going to a strong team like Liverpool. I don’t know. But I thought that at that time I had the ability to be first goalkeeper at Liverpool.” Regardless, Arphexad’s time on Merseyside has to be considered successful. He might have only played six times, but that didn’t stop him picking up six pieces of silverware in the form of two League Cups, one FA Cup, one UEFA Cup, one UEFA Super Cup, and one Charity Shield. The glorious thing is that he was an unused substitute in each match.
After leaving Liverpool, Arphexad went onto play five games for Coventry, three for Notts County and none for Marseille before hanging up his gloves in 2005. On retirement, Pegguy kept his involvement in the game going by becoming a sports insurer, although this didn’t prevent rumours that he had, in fact, become a porn star. Talking about the tittle tattle, Arphexad said “Look, this is a bad rumour. It's been going round a long time. One English guy wrote on the internet years and years ago that I was doing this and now people say to me: 'Hey, are you making porn films?' I haven't made ANY porn films, okay. I don't do that. I work for a sports insurance company. That's what I do. Put it in your paper – I don't do porn films, just insurance, okay?” I can confirm that I have done my research on LinkedIn and he is down as an ‘Assureur de sportif professionnel chez Henner Sports’. Which I figure translates as insurance man. I can also confirm that I have done no research into his rumoured other career.
39 games, seven major trophies. The ultimate back up goalkeeper? Over to Emlyn.
In April 2012, Reading FC won the Championship, ensuring a return to top-flight football after four seasons in the second tier. The subsequent season was a bit of a disaster, and I've tried to blot out as much of it as I can, though the image of 35-year old Ian Harte falling over as he jogged unchallenged out of defence with the ball is seared into my brain permanently. One thing that passed me by completely, however, was the four first team appearances made by perennial sub goalkeeper, Stuart Taylor.
A native Londoner, Taylor trained with Wimbledon before joining the renowned Arsenal youth system in 1997. Hailed as the potential long-term successor to David Seaman, he impressed in loan spells with Bristol Rovers, Crystal Palace, and Peterborough United, and was given starts in the Worthington Cup and a dead rubber Champions League group game before making his Premier League debut in November 2001, against Manchester United. A 3-1 win and ongoing injuries to Seaman and Richard Wright saw him continue a run in the team, and Taylor finished the season with fifteen appearances in all competitions. He earned a Premier League winner's medal, being subbed on in the 85th minute of the final game of the season to make the required number of appearances.
He managed a further thirteen appearances the following season, however, the arrival of Jens Lehmann and a shoulder injury saw him move down the pecking order, and a successful loan spell at Leicester City wasn't enough to force his way into the side. In search of first team football, Taylor moved on to Aston Villa, but found himself behind first Thomas Sørensen and then Brad Friedel and again on the sidelines. Seventeen appearances in four seasons, with a loan spell at Cardiff City in which he also lost his place in the side, summed up a frustrating spell in which he felt promises weren't kept. He signed for Manchester City on a free, this time as backup to Shay Given, expecting to play in the cup competitions. He did play a single cup game against Scunthorpe United, but was released at the end of his first season. Only nine days later, he was resigned by the club, coming on as a substitute in a pre-season friendly, but was behind Joe Hart and Costel Pantilimon and failed to make an appearance over a subsequent two-season spell, being released in 2012.
Following his release, Taylor trained with Reading, signing for them ahead of their Premier League return. Injuries to Adam Federici and Alex McCarthy saw Taylor make four starts, including one in a 4-1 loss to former side Arsenal. The season ended in relegation, but Taylor elected to stay in Berkshire. He failed to make another appearance, and at one point joined Yeovil Town on loan but chose to return after two days, presumably unimpressed with Hollywood Bowl and the Quedam Shopping Centre.
At the end of his second season with the Royals, he moved on to Leeds United, feeling that he would be first choice keeper and manage slightly better than his twelve games in the previous six seasons. However, just five days after he joined, Leeds signed Marco Silvestri, and Taylor was again forced into a reserve role, making only three appearances. A deflated Taylor considered retirement, and turned down offers from clubs lower down the pyramid, feeling this would be an admission he had never been good enough for the highest level. He sat out the 2015/16 season without a club, however, he returned to the Premier League in August 2016, joining Southampton with full understanding that he would be third choice behind Fraser Forster and former Reading teammate Alex McCarthy. While he failed to make a single first team appearance in his time with the Saints, he was featured in one of the great social media posts of our time; Southampton's Twitter account released a comically overblown video featuring speedboats and soldiers scrambling as faux review tweets flashed up. A pastiche of the trend for signing videos of the time, the video concluded with a beaming Taylor raising a cuppa to mark his one-year contract extension.
Taylor again failed to make any appearances in the 2017/18 season, and decided the time had come to hang up his gloves. He expressed some regret for how his career panned out, feeling he could have made hundreds of Premier League appearances had circumstances been slightly different. Stuart now runs a goalkeeper academy, helping to pass on his experience to the next generation. While he may not be able to boast many appearances in the first team, he has worked alongside some true greats of the game, and it's great to see him give back in his retirement. I'll raise a cuppa to that. Over to Mat.
Sub goalkeepers are a special breed. The mindset must be a difficult one. The aim is to be number one – surely it must be? But there is the knowledge that you are not good enough to start. Some seem to accept that role, enjoy their time on the bench and gracing the pitch for the League Cup third round. There are occasions when injuries, or red cards, thrust you into the limelight, and you are expected to do a solid, 7/10 job. No mistakes. Rarely, do these number twos get the opportunity to step up and become the fully-fledged number one.
Steve Harper was one such player although bad luck hit him, and hit him hard. Twenty years at Newcastle, from 1993 to 2013 saw only 153 appearances – although he is the club’s longest serving player. If you look at the roster of players he was backup to, then you begin to understand. Pavel Srníček was there from 1991 until 1998, and largely kept Harper on the bench. You’d expect that from a Czech Republic international. Shaka Hislop managed to push Harper down to third choice between 1995 and 1998, often taking the number one shirt from big Pav. Then, Shay Given arrived in 1997 as part of the Kenny Dalglish revolution for £1.5m. Given remained with the Magpies until 2009 before fleeing to Manchester City. Finally, the great Dutch substitute Tim Krul kept Harper out of the team until the Englishman finally left for Hull City in 2013 – again to be a backup.
In the 1998/99 season, he almost ousted Given, playing eighteen times, before new manager Bobby Robson came in and reinstated the Irishman. His next rise to the first team came in the 2007/08 season when injuries again afflicted Given. He managed 21 games, and another sixteen the following year, when Newcastle were relegated. Championship life suited Harper, who stayed loyal to the Toon Army, and was number one for the entire season, securing promotion and 45 appearances. Injury hit Harper in his and Newcastle’s top-flight return, restricting him to only eighteen appearances, and opening the door to Tim Krul to become the club’s number one. A handful of other first team appearances came, before a move to Hull, and then a couple dozen more games before retirement beckoned.
I remember Harper always being a solid keeper who, had he not been quite so loyal to Newcastle and luckier with injuries, could have had a long and successful career as a number one goalie but his love for the club kept him there. That got me thinking about that mindset of a number two. Your job is, essentially, to watch someone do your job. Imagine that in everyday life. Watching someone write the reports you’re being paid to do or want to do. Sitting at the side of a classroom watching someone else teach your class. You’d only step up when that colleague is ill. It doesn’t make sense, and yet, the number twos are a vital part of a squad – and Harper was one of the best. Over to Manny with another handy shot stopper.
The original Wembley Stadium was the setting for several exceptional goalkeeping performances. In 1956 Bert Trautmann helped Manchester City to FA Cup glory despite playing the final fifteen minutes with a broken neck. Although labelled “a circus clown in gloves” by Brian Clough before kick off Poland’s Jan Tomaszewski pulled of a string of incredible saves to earn his country a point and deny England a place at the 1974 World Cup. In the 1988 FA Cup final Wimbledon’s Dave Beasant denied John Aldridge from the penalty spot to give the Crazy Gang a famous victory. Earlier that year Luton Town had upset the odds by overcoming Arsenal in the League Cup thanks in no small part to the heroics of their second choice keeper Andy Dibble. The Welshman was only in between the sticks to deny Nigel Winterburn from the penalty spot due to an injury to the Hatters’ Les Sealey whose performances had been pivotal in getting his side to the showpiece event.
Luton found themselves back at Wembley the following year in the final of the very same competition with Sealey named in the starting line up to face Nottingham Forest. Mick Harford gave the Hatters the lead but Sealey’s foul on Steve Hodge gifted Forest a penalty which Nigel Clough converted. Neil Webb scored fifteen minutes later and Clough struck again to gain his old man’s side a 3-1 victory. It turned out to be Sealey’s last game for the club as Ray Harford brought in Alec Chamberlain. After deputising at Kenilworth Road he was taken on loan by Manchester United to provide back up for Scottish international Jim Leighton in December 1989.
United struggled in the league in the 1989/90 season, partly due to Leighton’s erratic performances between the sticks, but Sealey made just two league appearances. The Red Devils enjoyed more success in the FA Cup, however, and reached the final where they faced Crystal Palace. Leighton took to the field as the sides played out a thrilling 3-3 draw but, for the replay, Les Sealey was once again on the hallowed Wembley turf. The replay by no means lived up to the excitement of events five days earlier but Sealey’s saves prevented Palace from taking the lead in the first half and Lee Martin’s goal in the second half earned United the trophy. Despite earning some deserved Wembley redemption the keeper offered Jim Leighton his winner’s medal forging a firm friendship between the two men.
Sealey moved to United on a permanent deal in the close season and established himself as the club’s first choice as they reached his third Wembley final in three years in the League Cup. Although they were shocked in the final by Second Division Sheffield Wednesday they triumphed over Barcelona in the Cup Winners’ Cup. Despite delivering the club some much-desired silverware he did not have his contract extended as Alex Ferguson brought in Danish international Peter Schmeichel who apparently did a decent job at Old Trafford. After two years at Aston Villa, where he lost his first team spot to veteran Nigel Spink and then former United team mate Mark Bosnich, he returned to United as back up for Schmeichel. When the Dane was sent off against Charlton Athletic in the FA Cup he took to the field to help steer United to a 3-1 victory and, with Schmeichel suspended, he started yet another League Cup final. Unfortunately for Sealey his former club Aston Villa ran out 3-1 winners denying United a domestic treble.
With Gary Walsh firmly established as Schmeichel’s backup Sealey moved on to Blackpool at the start of the 1994/95 season but the opportunity to play for his favourite club West Ham United was too hard to resist. After just seven games at Bloomfield Road he spent eighteen months as first reserve to Ludek Miklosko although his debut for the Hammers came in intriguing circumstances. A late injury to John Moncur forced Harry Redknapp to bring Sealey on up front during a 1-0 loss to Arsenal. Clearly this experiment did enough to convince Stuart Pearce a similar approach would work with David James ten years later. After just one more first team appearance Sealey moved to Leyton Orient ahead of the 1996/97 campaign where he made twelve appearances before returning to Upton Park in a swap deal seemingly to allow the famously selfless Peter Shilton the opportunity to make his thousandth league appearance. Meanwhile Sealey made two more appearances for West Ham with his last professional game coming back at Old Trafford as a late substitute.
Les Sealey remained on West Ham’s books as a player as late as the 1999/2000 season but began his coaching career at Upton Park in 1998 working with the club’s young goalkeepers including his two sons, Joe and George, and Stephen Bywater. Tragically, aged only 43, Sealey died following a heart attack in August 2001. His former protégée Bywater requested the no.43 jersey at several clubs during his career as a tribute to Sealey and stated “you either liked him or hated him really – but he was like a second father to me”. Before his move to Manchester United he had established himself as a fans’ favourite with over 300 first team appearances for Coventry and Luton but his heroics as a reliable backup at United, who stepped in to help win Alex Ferguson his first of many pieces of silverware at the club, made him a cult hero at Old Trafford.
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