Raymond Neal "Ray" Clemence,
MBE (born
5
August,
1948) is one of English and
European
football's most decorated
goalkeepers ever and was part of the
Liverpool team of the 1970s.
Life and playing career
Born in
Skegness, England
, Clemence
made his debut for Scunthorpe
United in 1966 and was spotted and signed by Liverpool manager
Bill Shankly a year later, joining the
Reds for £18,000 on the 24
June 1967. He made his debut and
kept his first clean-sheet in a League Cup 3rd round tie at Anfield
on the
25 September 1968,
Swansea City were the visitors and
were beaten 2-0. He was nurtured through the reserve side
over the next two years, with the occasional senior appearance,
until 1970, at which point he became the club's first choice
goalkeeper.
In 1971, Liverpool reached the
FA Cup final
where Clemence played well but was powerless to prevent
Arsenal scoring twice in extra time to peg back
Liverpool's lead and win the game 2–1. However, there would be joy
for Clemence two seasons later when Liverpool won both the
League title and
UEFA
Cup, with Clemence saving a penalty in the final of the latter
against
Borussia
Mönchengladbach.
The penalty save meant that Liverpool took a
3–0 lead to Germany
with them
rather than a 3–1, Gladbach won 2–0 on their home soil and if
Jupp Heynckes had beaten Clem from the
spot the tie would have finished 3–3 on aggregate with the Germans
winning on the away goals rule. 1973/74 saw Liverpool claim
yet more silverware winning the F.A Cup at a canter with a
comprehensive 3–0 victory over
Newcastle United.
Clemence
was, by now, a regular for England making his debut and
keeping his first clean-sheet in the 1–0 World Cup qualifier win over Wales at Ninian Park
on the 15 November
1972, unfortunately for Clemence the presence
of another great goalkeeper Peter
Shilton meant that the England management struggled to decide
which keeper was the best, and ended up alternating their
selection.
With Clemence in goal, Liverpool won another League and UEFA Cup
double in 1976 and then made a courageous bid for a unique treble a
year later.
They achieved the first leg when they won the
League title, but then lost the F.A Cup final to bitter rivals
Manchester United, a result
that affected Clem and saw him trudge forlornly off the Wembley
turf. A consolation was to be had a few days
later, however, when the Reds won the
European Cup for the first time,
defeating Borussia Mönchengladbach 3–1, with Clemence, again, being
a thorn in the Gladbach side making a series of important
saves.
Liverpool retained the European Cup in 1978 with a narrow 1–0 win
over
Club Brugge at Wembley, but
conceded their League title to
Nottingham Forest, to whom they also
lost in the
League Cup final. In
1979 and 1980, Clemence kept goal as Liverpool clinched the League
title in each season. The 1978-79 League success saw Clemence set a
record that was never beaten under the two points for a win system,
conceding only 16 goals in the 42 league matches ( and just 4 at
Anfield). This remarkable record endured until beaten recently by
Chelsea, who conceded 15 goals in the
38 League matches.
Once again
in 1981 silverware proudly sat in the Anfield trophy room as they
won the League Cup and the European Cup for the third time, the 1–0
win over Real Madrid at the Parc des
Princes
on the 27 May ultimately
proving to be Clemence's last game for the club.
The emergence of the
South African-born
Bruce Grobbelaar put Clemence under
threat for his place for the first time in eleven years (during
which period he played in more than 650 matches and missed a mere
six) and he decided to end his association with Liverpool by
joining
Tottenham Hotspur for
a fee of £300,000. The two clubs reached the 1982 League Cup final,
which Liverpool won 3–1. Spurs did, however, win the FA Cup,
defeating
QPR 1–0 after a
1–1 draw.
Clemence's
Spurs debut came in a league fixture at Ayresome Park
on 28 August 1981,
Middlesbrough couldn't prevent
Clemence starting off with a win, losing 3–1. His first
clean-sheet came three games later on the
12 September at
Molineux, when he kept
Wolverhampton Wanderers at bay
in the 1–0 victory.
Clemence's international career was event-free, in that it
coincided with England's least successful era, failing to qualify
for two
World Cup in 1974 and
1978. Clemence was part of the squad which qualified for
Euro 1980 but this
ended in failure. In 1982, he was in the squad which qualified for
the World Cup, but again England did not progress as far as hoped.
Clemence retired from international football shortly afterwards
with a total of 61 caps. His rival Shilton ended up as first choice
keeper for the rest of the 1980s, playing in two more World Cups
and attaining a record 125 caps. Clemence also had the distinction
of
captaining
England, once, the first keeper to do so since
Frank Swift. The game in question was a
prestigious friendly with
Brazil, although Clemence
couldn't prevent the Brazilians from scoring as England lost
1–0.
Spurs won the UEFA Cup in 1984 but Clemence missed the final
through injury. He did reach a fifth F.A Cup final in 1987, when
his side lost to
Coventry City.
He is in a select group of players who have appeared in five or
more F.A Cup finals.
He retired in 1988 and joined the coaching staff at Spurs, working
his way through to the first team, before leaving to become joint
manager of
Barnet (with fellow
goalkeeper Gary 'sumo' Phillips) in January 1994. At the start of
the 1994–95 season, Ray took sole charge leading Barnet to 9th and
13th in Division 3. In August 1996 he was recruited by his former
Spurs and England team-mate
Glenn
Hoddle as goalkeeping coach for the England team, a position he
continued to hold under Hoddle's successors
Kevin Keegan and
Sven-Göran Eriksson. He remained in
that position under
Steve McClaren
until he was ousted by Italian
Franco
Tancredi as goalkeeping coach in December 2007 as
Fabio Capello took charge of the national
team. Although Ray still remains part of the England backroom
staff.
He is also the head of the
F.A's Head of Development Team his
role is to oversee the England under 16s, 17s, 18s, 19s and 20
sides, working with England U21 coach
Stuart Pearce in monitoring the players'
progress to the U21 side. He also occasionally works as a pundit on
TV and radio.
Clemence was awarded an
MBE for services to football.
His son,
Stephen, is a midfield
player who came through the ranks at Spurs and
Birmingham City and now plays for
Leicester City, whilst his daughter
Sarah also has footballing connections, being the wife of
Southend United striker
Dougie Freedman.
On
February 2 2005
Clemence announced that he had been diagnosed with
prostate cancer and that he would spend time
away from the England squad whilst he receives treatment. He was
the second member of Eriksson's staff to be diagnosed with prostate
cancer,
Brian Kidd was diagnosed with the
disease prior to
Euro 2004.
Clemence is still held in very high regard by the
Anfield faithful and was voted in at No.11 on the
Official
Liverpool Football Club web site poll
100 Players Who Shook The Kop,
he was also the highest placed goalkeeper. He was also chosen as
goalkeeper in the
BBC's Merseyside team of
the 20th century, and topped the magazine Total Football's poll of
the best ever goalkeeper, beating the likes of Shilton,
Lev Yashin,
Gordon
Banks and
Pat Jennings.
Career details
- Liverpool F.C (1967–1981) - 665 appearances
- 5 First Division| (Level 1) championship winners medals (1973,
1976, 1977, 1979 and 1980)
- FA Cup winners medal (1974)
- 3 European Cup (1977, 1978 and 1981)
- 2 UEFA Cup winners medals (1973 and 1976)
- League Cup winners medal (1981)
- European Super Cup winners
medal (1977)
- 5 Charity Shield winners medals
(1974, 1976, 1977 (shared), 1979 and 1980)
- 2 First Division (level 1) runners-up medals (1974 and
1978)
- 2 F.A Cup runners-up medal (1971 and 1977)
- Football League Cup runners-up medal 1978
- Charity Shield runners-up medal (1971)
- European Super Cup runners-up medal (1978)
- Tottenham Hotspur F.C (1981–1988) - 330
appearances
- F.A Cup winners medal (1982)
- UEFA Cup Winners medal (1984)
- Charity Shield winners medal (1981 (shared))
- F.A Cup runners-up medal (1987)
- Football League Cup runners-up medal (1982)
- Charity Shield runners-up medal (1982)
- England (1972–1983) - 61 caps
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