Ray Clemence


Raymond Neal Clemence, is a former England international football goalkeeper and was part of the Liverpool team of the 1970s. He is one of only 25 players to have made over 1,000 career appearances. He currently acts as Head of the FA Development Team, overseeing the development made by players in the England Youth teams from under-16 to 21 level, having previously been part of the England Senior team back room staff.

Club career

Scunthorpe United

Born in Skegness, Lincolnshire, Clemence made his debut for Scunthorpe United in 1966 and made 48 appearances in what was then called Division 3.

Liverpool

Clemence was signed by Liverpool manager Bill Shankly on 24 June 1967 from Scunthorpe United for a fee of £18,000, he made his debut and kept his first clean-sheet in a League Cup third round tie at Anfield on 25 September 1968, Swansea Town 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 Arsenal scored twice in extra time to overcome Liverpool's lead and win the game 2–1. 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 3–1. Gladbach won 2–0 at home, had Jupp Heynckes scored the penalty, then with the same second-leg result the tie would have finished 3–3 on aggregate, and Borussia Mönchengladbach would have won on the away goals rule. 1973–74 season saw Liverpool claim yet more silverware winning the F.A Cup with a comprehensive 3–0 victory over Newcastle United.
With Clemence in goal, Liverpool won another League and UEFA Cup double in 1976 and then made a bid for a unique treble a year later. They achieved the first leg when they won the League title, but lost the F.A Cup final 2-1 to rivals Manchester United. A few days later, Liverpool won the European Cup for the first time in Rome, defeating Borussia Mönchengladbach 3–1. In the second half Clemence made a magnificent save against Uli Stielike when the score was 1–1.
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. This remarkable record remains for a 42-match season and endured until beaten in the 2004-05 season by Chelsea, who conceded 15 goals in the 38 League matches.
In 1981 Liverpool won the League Cup, and for the third time the European Cup, the latter with a 1–0 win over Real Madrid in a dour contest at the Parc des Princes on 27 May. It turned out to be Clemence's last game for the club.
The emergence of Bruce Grobbelaar put Clemence's place in the side under threat for the first time in eleven years, and he decided to leave Liverpool to join Tottenham Hotspur for a fee of £300,000.

Tottenham Hotspur

Clemence left Liverpool to join Tottenham Hotspur in 1981 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 replay.
Clemence's first Tottenham appearance was in the 1981 F.A. Charity Shield against Aston Villa at Wembley on 22 August 1981, where Mark Falco and Peter Withe each scored twice in an entertaining 2–2 draw. His League debut came a week later with a winning start at Ayresome Park, where Spurs beat Middlesbrough 3–1. His first clean-sheet came three games later on 12 September at Molineux, when he kept Wolverhampton Wanderers off the scoresheet in the 1–0 victory.
Spurs won the UEFA Cup in 1984. Clemence missed the final against Anderlecht through injury, but was on the bench as substitute goalkeeper in a match famously won when Tony Parks saved twice during the penalty shootout. Clemence reached a fifth F.A Cup final in 1987, where Spurs lost to Coventry City. He is in a select group of players who have appeared in five or more F.A Cup finals. Clemence sustained an Achilles tendon injury in Tottenham's away match at Norwich in October 1987, which forced his retirement from playing in 1988. Shortly after retiring Clemence joined the Spurs coaching staff.

International career

Clemence was a regular for England between 1972 and 1983 making his debut and keeping his first clean-sheet in the 1–0 World Cup qualifier win over Wales at Ninian Park on 15 November 1972. His international career was event-free, in that it coincided with England's least successful era, failing to qualify for two World Cups 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 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. Because of an injury to his left knee Clemence was forced into retirement from international football shortly afterwards with a total of 61 caps for England in a 12-year international career. Unfortunately for Clemence the presence of another great goalkeeper, his rival Peter Shilton, also meant that the England management struggled to decide which keeper was the best, and ended up alternating their selection. 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.

Coaching career

Management

Clemence 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 in January 1994. At the start of the 1994–95 season, he took sole charge leading Barnet to ninth and 13th in Division 3.

England coaching team

In August 1996 he was recruited by his former Spurs and England teammate 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 replaced by Italian Franco Tancredi as goalkeeping coach in December 2007, as Fabio Capello took charge of the national team. Clemence, however, remained part of the England backroom staff, when Roy Hodgson took over as manager, he reinstated Clemence to the Goalkeeper coach role. On 11 June 2012, he snapped his Achilles during England's warmups for their game against France during Euro 2012.
He was the head of the F.A's Head of Development Team, where his role was 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, and comments on current goalkeeping stories in football.
In 2013, Clemence retired; being "lavishly saluted", and being bought a gift from the England national football team; despite his last appearance at an international level coming 30 years ago.

Personal life

Clemence was appointed an MBE in the 1987 Birthday Honours for services to football. His son, Stephen, is a midfield player who came through the ranks at Spurs and Birmingham City and retired injured from Leicester City in 2010. He is now the Sheffield Wednesday first team coach under Steve Bruce. Clemence's daughter Sarah also has footballing connections, being the wife of former Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest manager and Scotland striker Dougie Freedman.
On 2 February 2005 Clemence announced that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and that he would spend time away from the England squad whilst he received 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 both the Tottenham faithful and the Anfield faithful. He was voted in at No.11 on the 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 Peter Shilton, Lev Yashin, Gordon Banks and Pat Jennings.

Honours

;Liverpool
;Tottenham Hotspur