Ron Springett

[longeared]

Has died, aged 80, he'd been ill for some time.

England's second choice keeper at the 1966 World Cup, he'd been first choice four years earlier in Chile. Long before my time, but those who saw him often say he's the best keeper Wednesday ever had, though he apparently was a bit prone to being beaten from long range.

He had a fantastic arrangement with Wednesday after we signed him - he continued to live in London due to his business interests, trained with QPR and travelled to Hillsborough or the away venue for each match. For that reason you rarely see him in our old team photos of the 60s. Then we sold him back to QPR in 1967 in a swap deal with his brother Peter.

[Satchmo Distel]

Ron Springett

His brother, whom I saw play several times for Barnsley, died in 1997. Have there been any other goalkeeping brothers in the top tier?

[The-Reverend]

Ron Springett

Gary and Alan Kelly both played top flight I think.

Alan had spells at Sheffield United and Blackburn, and Gary was first choice at Newcastle for a period.

From memory, bot of them were very short for keepers as well.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Ron Springett

alan kelly Jr was 6'2", his dad was also an international keeper.

[dalliance]

Ron Springett

Dave and Peter Latchford played in goal for Birmingham City and West Brom respectively. Other brother Bob was of course a prolific striker for Everton.

[Geoffrey de Ste. Croix]

Ron Springett

Dynamo Kiev's Viktor Charnov and his brother, Torpedo Moscow's Vyacheslav were both in the Soviet Union's 1982 World Cup squad.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Ron Springett

All those pre-1980s photos of goalies without gloves on look strange, now. Was any one particular 'keeper or club ever credited with starting the trend?

[François dan un fez]

Ron Springett

I had a pair of Peter Bonnetti gloves around 1968

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Ron Springett



Maybe he should have worn them in 1970 ...

[Amor de Cosmos]

Ron Springett

Ron Springett was England goalkeeper when I first became properly interested in football. He played in a televised friendly with Brazil, sometime after the '58 World Cup and was ritually humiliated by Pelé, Garrincha et al, along with his team-mates. I particularly remember him rooted to the spot as Pelé hopped, skipped and sambaed up to take a penalty. Excellent league goalie in those days though.

[The-Reverend]

Ron Springett

Rogin the Armchair Fan wrote: All those pre-1980s photos of goalies without gloves on look strange, now. Was any one particular 'keeper or club ever credited with starting the trend?

This chap is claimed to be the first to wear gloves.

He appears to have been a bit of a maverick.

Am almost sure that in footage of the 1970 wc, Gordon Banks has some wired white gauntlets on (also the tournament where he played the second half of Eng v Romania in the England red change shirt)

I also seem to remember Phil Parkes being instrumental in the marketing and use of gloves with Sukan Sports.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Ron Springett

Goalkeepers occasionally wore gloves for as long as I've been watching (late 50s.) Usually only when it was exceptionally cold or wet though. Kind of like wearing a cap when it was sunny. (Why don't they do that anymore? Seems to make sense to me.)

[Satchmo Distel]

Ron Springett

Depends how well the gloves are designed. I recall that crtap gloves were a hindrance when I was a kid. I got bought some goalie gloves for Xmas, they were shit so I left them behind the goal.

[The-Reverend]

Ron Springett

When I was a nipper (circa 85/86), my first ever goalkeeping coach was a bloke called Ken Oxford (Derby and Norwich) and he didn't like gloves at all.

If it was really wet he might occasionally wear pair of yellow gardening gloves that had a sort of plastic diamond mesh all over them.

He worked for Securicor when in later life and was the victim of an armed robbery once, he fell to the floor and clutched the cash box with his body curled around it like a football. The robbery was unsuccessful.

[Vicarious Thrillseeker]

Ron Springett

satchmo76 wrote: His brother, whom I saw play several times for Barnsley, died in 1997. Have there been any other goalkeeping brothers in the top tier?

Not strictly top tier, but the Millington brothers were both 'keepers. Tony played for West Brom, Peterborough and Swansea, and Grenville was a Chester legend.