Ray Clemence
Raymond " Ray" Neal Clemence (* August 5, 1948 in Skegness, England ) was one of the best and most highly decorated English and European football goalkeeper and member of the great Liverpool team of the 70s.
Playing career
Clemence made his debut in 1966 for Scunthorpe United, where he was discovered a year later by Liverpool manager Bill Shankly. In the first two years at Liverpool he played in the reserve team with occasional assignments in the first team. In 1970 he established himself permanently as the first choice on the goalkeeper position.
In 1971, the Liverpool the FA Cup final and Clemence completed a solid performance. However, he could not prevent the 1-2 defeat by 1-0 in extra time against Arsenal. Two years later he won then both the English championship and the UEFA Cup, in its final Clemence saving a penalty. The following year, Liverpool triumphed in the FA Cup when they defeated Newcastle United 3-0.
Clemence was at this time in the squad of the English national football team. His rival for the English goalkeeper Peter Shilton and was the sports management could not definitively decide who should be the permanent choice goalkeeper and changed as a result steadily between the two.
With Clemence in goal Liverpool won in 1976, again the double of Bundesliga and the UEFA Cup. 1977 then meant the continuation of this flight of fancy, as Liverpool again won the English championship for the first time in club history the European Champions Cup with Clemence ( in the FA Cup they lost also only in the final against Manchester United). In a 3-1 win against Borussia Mönchengladbach in the finals of the European Cup to Clemence was characterized by a variety of important defense actions.
Liverpool defended in 1978 the European title with a 1-0 final win against Club Bruges at Wembley. National, however, had to get in the Championship Nottingham Forest beaten, where they lost in the final of the League Cup. In the years 1979 and 1980 Clemence still guarded the gate when Liverpool won back the championship title each. In 1981 it won the League Cup and the third time the national champion trophy. The final was the last game played for Liverpool Clemence.
The emerging, originating from the former Southern Rhodesia, Bruce Grobbelaar put Clemence at the goalkeeper position under so much pressure that this Liverpool after eleven years and over 650 missions left with only six missed games for 300,000 British pounds in the direction of Tottenham Hotspur. Ironically, both clubs reached the League Cup final, which was won by Liverpool 3:1. However, the Spurs won the FA Cup with a 3-1 win in the replay against Queens Park Rangers.
His career in the national team was no more success, since in his time one of the weakest periods in the history of English football fell. England failed to qualify for either the 1974 World Cup in Germany nor for the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. Clemence was in the squad of the 1980 European Championship in Italy, England, however, as already eliminated in the first round. For the 1982 World Cup in Spain, he was also nominated, but England resigned again in the second round. Clemence retired then returned after a total of 61 international matches from international football. His rival Shilton was thus undisputed goalkeeper, still played the next two World Championships and came to a total of 125 internationals.
Tottenham Hotspur won the UEFA Cup, whose final Clemence but could not play due to injury in 1984. He reached in 1987 his fifth FA Cup final, which he lost to Coventry City. However, since then he is in a very exclusive group of players who managed to have stood Cup Finals in five or more FA.
Activities after the goalie career
Clemence stepped back in October 1987 as a football player and joined the coaching staff of Tottenham Hotspur. He steadily worked his way up to the first team before he January 1994 - initially to August together with Gary Phillips - alone and was later coach of FC Barnet. In 1996 he was hired by his former teammates from Tottenham and the national Glenn Hoddle as England international goalkeeper coach. This activity practiced Clemence also Hoddles successor Kevin Keegan and to this day, even under Sven -Goran Eriksson with occasional forays as an expert on radio and television.
Clemence has been recognized for his services to football by the MBE. His son Stephen Clemence is also footballer and played in midfield for Tottenham Hotspur. He currently plays for Birmingham City.
On 2 February 2005 she was diagnosed with prostate cancer Clemence, which professionally has the consequence that he stays away from the English team more often in favor of his medical treatment. He was thus the second employee in Eriksson's team, in which prostate cancer was detected. Brian Kidd had received the information about his illness shortly before the 2004 European Cup.
Achievements
- English Champion ( 5): 1972 /73 1975/76 1976 /77 1978/79, 1979/80
- FA Cup Winners ( 2): 1974, 1982
- English League Cup Winners: 1981
- FA Community Shield Winners (6 ): 1974, 1976, 1977 *, 1979, 1980, 1982 ( shared title )
- European Cup Winners ' Cup (3): 1977, 1978, 1981
- UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (3): 1973, 1976, 1984,
- UEFA Super Cup: 1977