Ray Clemence – A Wonderful Man

Article by Karl Coppack @TheCenciAs a kid I love LFC match programmes. I was too young to go to the games, but I loved those faded red and white booklets with its mono images. ‘Action shots’ they’d be called. More than anything I liked the team line-ups on the back page. They were reassuring. The names seldom changed, and the shirt numbers never did. They always started with the same line.

1. Ray Clemence

He was my first goalkeeper and when the knotty question of ‘best XI’ arises, he’s always my number one. Yeah, I know. It was a different age and he could pick the ball up from back passes—a luxury the recent keepers have never been afforded—but I don’t care. Number one – Ray Clemence. That will never change.Most people choose their heroes from their youth and stubbornly refuse to acknowledge more recent candidates. I’ll always love Kevin Keegan simply because he, along with Tosh, scored goals for me most weeks when I became curious about the game. I loved Clem because he kept them out. He would appear in ITV’s Kick-Off programme each Sunday and their monthly ‘Save of the Month’ competition (BBC’s Match of the Day had ‘Goal of the Month’) with his big green Umbro shirt with flyaway collars. He looked great. He looked what he was – the template of a perfect goalkeeper.He never appeared angry. A save or catch was always followed with a raised hand and a smile at his defence. Calmness personified. Ideal for a kid who could feel his heart thump every time the opposition passed the halfway line. He had our back.I was gutted when he left. I never took to Grobbelaar, his replacement. Far too wacky and unreliable. This extended to just last year when I saw Bruce on a nearby table in a restaurant and didn’t give him a second glance. Had that been Ray I would have done that ‘surely he wouldn’t mind a photo’ discussion thing in my head before deciding against it and regretting it afterwards.

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Don’t get me started on Shilton.Ray was still only 33 when he went to Spurs and even then, he became a hero to them, securing an F.A and UEFA Cup. By the time he retired he amassed 758 appearances, five titles, three European Cups, three UEFA Cups, two F.A Cups and a League Cup. He sits fourth on our all-time appearance list behind Gerrard, Carragher and Cally.Ray was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2005 and had to be excused from England coaching duties to have treatment. This week Clive Tyldesley revealed ‘Ray Clemence is a little under the weather at the moment. If this wonderful man has ever brought pleasure to your life at any time, this would be a good time to tell him – @RayClem1A wonderful man. That sums him up perfectly. I’ve met a few of his teammates who said the same. He’s even responsible for cheering the team up after the 1977 FA Cup final defeat. While waiting at Watford station for the train home, he looked around at his moping mates and did a silly dance to cheer them up. Such was the bizarre nature of it that it worked, and everyone relaxed. Four days later he won his and our first European Cup.How mad is it that they took a train home from Watford after a Cup final?I hope he’s okay. We all do.Wishing you a recovery, Ray. You always had our backs and now we have yours.Article by Karl Coppack @TheCenci