Goalkeepers' Union

We have spoken with keepers across the SWPL to find out what it is like to play the hardest squad role, support goalkeeper, and how the goalkeeping union supports them to perform to their best.

“Goalkeepers are all mad”, “I’m not sure why you’d ever want to go in goal”, “should be doing better there for me”. Three sentences that you’ll have heard at least once if you’ve been around football for more than a few years. Goalkeepers are grouped into an almost mythical category of footballer. Training in their own small group with their own coach, having every one of their mistakes studied under a microscope (even if the goal scored is an absolute worldie, there’s always someone that thinks it’s the keeper’s fault), then there’s the keepers that aren’t regularly starting…

The backup keeper, number two, support keeper, whatever you want to call it, is a uniquely challenging role in football. Putting any feelings about not playing to one side to support the keeper that is, helping them warm up before the game, being ready to come on at a moment’s notice but knowing it is unlikely. It’s such a tough task, physically and mentally. Across the game there are keepers putting in the work and training as hard as they can, reflecting on their game to improve, and then spending their Sunday watching from the bench. Cheering on the keeper that’s started.

They are the backbone of the goalkeepers’ union.

We spoke to Alicia Yates and Colin Osborne at Spartans, Glasgow City’s Erin Clachers, and former Scotland and Hibernian keeper Shannon Lynn (now Rosengård’s goalkeeper coach, someone should really research the links between Scotland and Sweden…) to learn more about what it is like to be in that position. What is it actually like to play the most important non-playing squad role?

A caveat before we begin, both Alicia Yates and Erin Clachers have made a significant number of appearances this season, and over the last few seasons, so it is not a reflection of reality to characterise them as backup keepers, however, both have had to deal with spells behind another keeper (in both instances extremely experienced keepers that could be argued as the best in the league).

“It’s hard to talk about, but it is really important so we should talk about it. It’s not like any other position, it’s a special job”

Shannon Lynn referenced it being a unique role a number of times while we spoke with her, and she’s not wrong, but what do supporting keepers actually do? For many they see them sitting on the bench every week, perhaps putting in a few crosses if they’re paying attention to the warm up, but the importance of the role isn’t always the most visible. The majority of the work going on behind closed doors, a mystery even to their teammates who, as Alicia Yates describes, “just think we do head tennis and mess about”.

In the SWPL most teams have a specialist goalkeeper coach now, although not all as it should be, and a lot of their support comes from the supporting keeper(s). Whether it is helping in training drills by acting as an opposition forward, being a sounding board during analysis sessions, or firing in crosses to warm up the starting keeper on matchday. The #2 has a big role to play even if they don’t step out onto the pitch.

Alicia Yates finds that side of a matchday to be motivating while she sits on the sideline, like a part of her is out there with Rachel Harrison.

Sometimes whenever Rachel [Harrison] takes a cross I think ‘oh that’s because I did a brilliant cross in the warm up’. It’s obviously not at all but it does make you feel good because you feel you have played a big part in them doing well. It’s a good feeling.

She’s become renowned on the Spartans’ bench as one not to sit next to with her support for her fellow keeper.

Whenever anyone does anything I get so excited, people on the bench say that they need ear plugs when they sit next to me!

It is a quality to be praised though, being able to put self-interest to one side and see the bigger picture of how important the supporting role is is an incredibly mature trait, one that many keepers (including Alicia) have had to learn early in their careers as they work on their development behind an experienced number one.

“Maybe I’m the best second best ever!”

When Alicia Yates was brought to Spartans it was fairly clear that some long term planning had gone into the move with Rachel Harrison in her prime and Yates graduating Hibernian’s academy (a very successful scouting area for Spartans) to first team football for the first time. Colin Osborne openly admitting as much.

For us, the position we were in when Charlene [Lessells] retired and we needed to recruit a keeper, we looked to recruit someone we can develop and that could reach where Rachel was at. Alicia was our number one choice for that and it goes back to that development… at the development stage we have to think about whether that goalkeeper is ready to be exposed to that level.

The majority of back up keepers fall into one of two categories, an experienced pro coming to the end of their careers or young prospect that is developing for the future. Yates was the latter and Osborne gave us some insight into how that manifests itself from a coaching point of view.

With Alicia, we chose when we brought her in for a run of games and brought her out, psychologically if they aren’t ready you can set yourself back 12, 18, months. We thought Alicia was ready for that step and she has shown she was.

But, that brings forward another difficulty for the back up keeper, one Shannon Lynn knows well from her playing career and time coaching at Rosengård so far. With goalkeeping teams often made up of two players at different ends of their career, what happens when another keeper is brought in over you? How do you reckon with that opportunity to take the gloves not coming?

Sometimes the confusion for me was a lot of my career I questioned if I was good enough and doubted myself all the time. Being a second goalie at my club and then new goalies would come in and I’d still be second, same with the national team. I play a good game and, of course you don’t change a goalie just like that, I had a lot of self-doubt and stuff like that. On the other side of it, I thought there’s a reason why I’m still being selected in the national team, even if I’m second best. You know, maybe I’m the best second best ever!

Now as a coach, Lynn has seen a similar circumstance play out at her club as Tegan Micah departed for Liverpool while Eartha Cumings moved in the opposite direction (although not in a swap deal, just a coincidence). Lynn is well aware of how it feels to be a number two, or three, in that situation but also has the tough job of making sure the new number one is in the best place they can be too.

I am definitely reflecting a lot now, how do I approach this moment when there were times in my career that I wish coaches could have been better with their communication to me. Building trust that is not about questioning ‘why am I not playing’ but making them know they’re still important. Whether I do it well or not I don’t know but I try to see them all because in the end it is cut throat. There is going to be a number one, and as a coach I get it. There are good performances in training and they’re pushing each other, but, you do still have that number one and a really solid second and even third keeper that you know you can trust and count on.

Probably sometimes they will think I’m talking bullshit when I say that ‘I have been there’ and ‘I understand’. You’re saying all the things like ‘you’re doing great… but…’. So that’s something I’m trying to be better at [than the experiences I had].

She admits that this hasn’t been easy, especially in the circumstances that have surrounded the Swedish club’s season. Even before Tegan Micah, rated by many as one of the best in the league, left the club they had faced injury issues that make you wonder if they have been cursed. Injury after injury has meant that the keepers at Rosengård have all had spells playing intermittently. Then there’s the additional complication with how last season played out for Eartha Cumings, joining after a really difficult time that saw her look to be short of confidence as she fell down the pecking order at Liverpool.

We’ve had a pretty challenging year with the keepers, Tegan [Micah] and Angel [Mukasa] were injured for a while and we have another keeper that started the season. So we’ve played a lot of goalkeepers this season and that’s a special situation that you don’t see so much. It was definitely a challenge for the keepers that were here, like ‘okay, they’re signing a goalie that I can challenge’ and they are challenging each other but then it’s also about Eartha. If she’s going to be number 1, how can I support her getting confidence, how can I remind her that she’s a good goalie, that she needs consistency to find form.

We’ve had a challenging season, this season it’s been even more important for them [to be ready] because we’ve had the injuries so we’ve had to play four goalies this year. If you look at it that way, you’ve got to make sure they’re all ready. Having small conversations and making sure they feel comfortable to let you know if they aren’t feeling good, or if they want to look at this one clip, or whatever. You’ve got to build a lot of trust and it’s not easy to keep everyone happy.

“Part of being a goalkeeper is that other side”

It can’t be ignored, every goalkeeper will spend some of their career backing up another. No matter how good they are. Being a good teammate, and learning how to succeed at the non-playing part of the game, is a skill just like an attacker learning to play with their back to goal, or a midfielder dropping into the back line.

For Erin Clachers that mentality is ingrained in her perception of being a keeper. The supportive nature of the position is unique in how it plays out but the key attributes of a good teammate are the same as any other position on the pitch, amplified by the circumstances around goalkeeping.

That is what your role is in the team that day. Obviously anyone would be disappointed about not playing, but, I think part of being a goalkeeper is that other side when you’re not playing. You are the supportive teammate and doing everything you can to make sure the keeper that is playing is best prepared, as confident as she can be. I think it’s just part of being a goalkeeper. You know what makes you feel good when you’re playing so it’s kind of what you want to make the other person feel when they’re playing.

It’s a point of view that evokes that everlasting title of the goalkeepers’ union. The tight knit group that form the backbone of so many teams, an intangible feeling that surrounds the small group that are often found off to one side in training. While the outfield squad work through drills to improve their fitness, skill on the ball, tactical understanding, the keepers are off to one side in their own group working on skills that are much harder to measure.

It also hints at the importance of spending time as a number two for younger players as well as how the supporting keeper can have a big impact on whoever has the starting jersey for any given game.

We’ve been together for 5 or 6 years now and we are both just pushing each other, no matter who starts. We work well and can have a good laugh, but also I also know I’ve got a lot I can learn from Lee [Gibson] so I’d say we do push each other well and she sort of mentors me at the same time.

I know every day I go into training I have to try to be better because that’s what I strive to be, as good as Lee is. That’s the standard that is set for the goalkeeping position at Glasgow City, it’s only a good thing for me to strive to be that.

Pushing the other keeper to be the best they can be, while being your best self as well, is a tough ask. That mental pressure is one of the reasons we wanted to write this article to find out how to deal with it. Shannon Lynn was typically reflective in her answer.

You support them because they’re your teammate, and if you’re lucky, your friend too. You push and challenge them. I don’t know how many times in my career I heard the phrase ‘you made the first goalie better’ you know? And like that sucks. Like ‘cool, good for me’ but on the other side of it it is flattering. You do push them and you see the bigger picture of the team performance and that is such an important thing to do.

In the end you’re part of a team and you want to win. It’s tough thinking ‘am I not good enough’ sometimes but there’s the other side of wanting the team to win as well.

“You can’t get that first touch, you’re right into it”

As if the mental toughness required to be a good teammate and to stay a positive influence on the team even in tough moments wasn’t hard enough, there’s the prospect of being rushed onto the pitch and immediately being thrown into that first save. We saw it earlier this season when Katie Fraine was sent off for Hibernian against Glasgow City, Nina Wilson was quickly brought out to fill the gap between the posts and four minutes later was staring down last season’s top scorer at the penalty spot. There aren’t many players we’d expect to score with their first chance of the game, four minutes after coming off the bench. For outfield players you get to take your first touch, make a couple easy passes, and really get a grip of the game before a major moment comes your way. Not goalkeepers, they are straight into the thick of it.

Wilson showed confidence and composure with a couple little jumps on the line before reading Davidson’s mind to make the save. All of that comes down to the preparation that we don’t see, in training and pre-match, as Erin Clachers explained.

Touch wood I think it’s only happened once [coming on for an injury] with Lee [Gibson] and only one other time, I think a Scotland [youth] qualifier, that I’ve came on. But for me, I prepare every game as if I’m going to play. I’ll eat the same, go through the same routine, whether I think I’m going to play or I know I’m not. Just so I know when, or if, I go on I’ve done all I can do. I know I’m going to feel good, I know I’m going to be well fuelled, and I’ll just focus in that same way so that if it does come I know that I’m ready to play because you can’t get that first touch, you’re right into it so it can be a nerve wracking situation.

At Spartans, that readiness is ingrained in the keepers through training. Colin Osborne’s job is to make sure that not only are the keepers developing strongly but also that they are both ready to play come the weekend, whether that be from the start or in an emergency off the bench.

For us, even through the week and our prep on a Friday night, both are prepped as if they’re #1 and sometimes I don’t even know who’s going to start until Sunday morning! So they’ve got to be on the money through the week, but we also treat them both as equals as part of that. We want them both to be at a level where they are both good enough to be #1s in this league. The focus is on preparing both of them for the Sunday, even in the head tennis we keep a tally score to keep competition but it is healthy. I think some of that is because they are both great, it makes my life easy.

Those training competitions may sound like fun and games but the standards at Spartans are extremely high in the goalkeeping department as Colin Osborne highlighted.

Ideally we are looking for both keepers to be high 90s [percentage of performance metrics].

“Do I want to retire and stop playing just because I’m second choice, or, do I want to make the most of this?”

Goalkeeping in general is such a difficult position, and one that comes with a huge amount of scrutiny (often for absolutely no reason). It’s really tough, especially as Alicia Yates describes, when you go through a difficult period and find yourself out of the team.

I remember I went through a spell and didn’t play much and then I went on an international break, and I wasn’t playing there either, They both [Debbi and Colin] pulled me aside and had a chat with me. It helped me a lot in that moment and they were really supportive. Colin [Osborne] especially because he understood what I was feeling, the whole group just lifted me up. I think my spell was shorter because of that and got back to my usual self quite quickly. Rachel’s experience was also great, she took me under her wing and says I’m her mini-her.

The environment at Spartans is led from how they support young players, something they are so well known for, and Colin Osborne tries to enhance that by how he gives feedback.

We tend to focus on giving the feedback and looking at the whole picture, whether it’s a goal conceded or a good save. That isn’t always praise for a good save as well, sometimes we are critical of it even if there is a good save.

That situation is obviously not unique to Spartans and Erin Clachers highlights a similar mentality at Glasgow City. Being able to overcome mistakes and keep your head high is so difficult, but, is such an important skill for goalkeepers to be successful.

I think that’s just something you learn as being a goalkeeper, you will concede goals whether you like it or not and these things happen but you’ve got to take the positives out of the rest of your performance. If there were things you could have done better for the goal you’ve obviously got to analyse that but looking at the good things you do as well.

Shannon Lynn was philosophical about it all, as a second choice keeper it is something that can just add to the self-doubt and negative emotion that is so easy to fall into (emotion that we would definitely feel if we were in that position).

‘Well, how do I keep pushing if I get the chance’, that’s the thing that’s so hard as a second choice, or third even, like when you get the chance if you’ve been in a shit mood then you’re not ready for it. It sounds so cliché but I really love football so much, for me I loved to train, I loved to play goalie. I cant say I was always so on but when I realised this is what I’m doing, I just loved to play. That made some days easier.

She was also honest that the love of the game didn’t make every day easy, and let us into the inner questions of a supporting keeper.

It’s really hard, really, really hard, but if you love the game and you’re professional and you want to be the best you can be then that was my drive. How can I compete, how can I make sure I’m ready if I do get the chance. Then when that chance doesn’t come, and it doesn’t come again, and again, of course that keeps you down. But then it’s like do I want to retire and stop playing just because I’m second choice or do I want to make the most of this? If it happens for me I’m ready. A lot of emotions. There’s also the side of the starting keeper that has to keep her place, and then there’s a lot of pressure from outside, so I don’t know if I ever was the first choice if I would have been able to deal with it. That’s what I’ve tried to tell myself anyway!

At the end of the day, only one keeper can play at any given time (unless Ellie Roebuck does become a midfielder like that meme says, or that one time that Mackenzie Arnold went on in midfield) and that means that the other keepers at the club are going to have to live with working behind the scenes. Players always want to play, that competitive edge is important to get to this level, but being able to accept that you are still an important contributor to the team while you’re not playing is tough.

We aren’t being hyperbolic when we say it is likely the hardest role to play in all of football, the mental strength required to be at the top of your game at all times just in case the team needs you is incredible. There’s really nothing else like it. So, raise a pre-match glass to the keeper sat on the bench next matchday. After all, without them there is no goalkeepers’ union and without a goalkeepers’ union there’s no support for the keeper between the sticks. Without that support, they certainly wouldn’t be the keeper that they are.