What Makes a World-Class Goalkeeper? | Eric Steele

When you’ve worked with Schmeichel, Van der Sar, and De Gea, you’ve seen everything there is to know about greatness between the posts. In this episode of the Catching Up, Eric Steele – the legendary former Manchester United goalkeeping coach – joins us to share his remarkable journey from Wallsend Boys Club to the world’s biggest stages.

Eric opens up about what separates the good from the great, the real meaning of professionalism, and how mindset defines a goalkeeper’s legacy. From Gordon Banks’ gloves to Ben Foster’s famous “iPod King” moment, he reveals the unseen details that build champions – and the humility that sustains them.

We dive deep into the psychology of coaching, the evolution of the modern goalkeeper, and why calmness under pressure might just be the greatest superpower in football. Eric also talks about his passion for developing young players through EvoGK, helping the next generation of keepers learn from the very best.

Whether you’re a young player, a coach, or simply a football fan, this is a masterclass in mindset, resilience, and the art of goalkeeping – from a man who’s lived it all.

#EvoGK #Goalkeeping #EricSteele #ManUnited #GoalkeeperCoaching #FootballPodcast #BenFoster #DavidDeGea #PeterSchmeichel #EdwinVanderSar #CoachingJourney #Mindset #Leadership #YouthDevelopment #VAR

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Transcript

Paul: 0:05

Today's guest has coached some of the greatest goalkeepers in football history Schmeichel, Van Der Sar, De Gea Hart. It goes on and it goes on, but Eric steele's story starts far from the bright lights of Old Trafford and Sir Alex Ferguson. From a young lad at Walden Boys Club to becoming Manchester United's trusted Goalkeeping coach, Eric learned that greatness isn't about talent to alone. It's about discipline, communication, and always evolving. In this episode, Eric opens up on what it really takes to develop world class keepers, how coaching has changed over the decades, and why understanding the person matters just as much as perfecting the technique. This is more than a conversation about saves and clean sheets. But it's a deep dive into mindset leadership and the legacy of one of football's finest teachers. I'm not gonna lie, I had to contend myself in this episode and I hope that energy shines through. This is a man who's worked with some of the most amazing footballers and managers in the world, and, I had to work really hard to keep this conversation on track because there's a million questions I could have asked Eric that I couldn't get to and stay true to the podcast. Um, one of these days, I might take you behind the scenes to what questions I got to ask afterwards as well. But, uh, I hope you enjoy this episode and please share it with your friends and family. If they're a Manchester United fan, they will know this guy extremely well. He needs no introduction. Enjoy.​Hello and welcome to this month's episode of the EvoGK podcast, catching up, today, I have the absolute pleasure of being joined by former Manchester United Goalkeeping coach Eric Steele. Eric, welcome to the show!

Eric: 1:57

Good afternoon. Pleasure to be here.

Paul: 2:00

Eric's football journey began in northeast of England, born in Wallsend, 1954. I'll say that quietly. And, he carved out a solid playing career as a goalkeeper, starting at Newcastle United Youth setup, really making his mark at peterborough, where he held a club record for consecutive appearances, and then spells at Brighton and Hove Albion, Watford, Derby County, and others. But what really makes Eric especially fascinating for our discussion today is his transformation into one of the most respected Goalkeeping coaches in the game. After hanging up his gloves in around 1988, he set up his own specialist coaching service, traveling and working internationally before securing roles at elite clubs like Aston Villa Man City, and in particular, man United. Where he joined as First Team goalkeeping coach in 2008 alongside his club work at since 2015, he's been engaged by the English Football Association working with the next generation of national team Goalkeepers. In short, we have someone on the shore who immediately knows the Player to coach Journey has operated at the highest levels of the game and brings both practical hands-on experience and strategic thinking about how goalkeepers develop, perform, and evolve. That is some write up. Eric, I'm not going to lie, I'm excited

Eric: 3:20

some intro. Thank you ever so much. Yeah, I'm puffing my chest there for hearing that. I better make sure the answers I'm going to give you are going to match what you've just told everybody. So yeah, no looking forward to it. Very good.

Paul: 3:32

It's fantastic. before we get into anything in too much depth, I want to know as soon as I asked Ian and John in our first two episodes, who was your goalkeeper hero?

Eric: 3:43

I had two heroes. Number one, when I was a young goalkeeper trying to take balls off everybody on timeout Whitley Bay Beach. That's how my mam knew I was going to be a goalkeeper. I didn't kick the ball. I used to always run over, grab it and literally carry it like goalkeepers do. So I knew. Then my mam says, you are going to be a goalkeeper. I knew that. So by the time I got to 11 years of age, and this is just before I went to Wallsend Boys Club, which I'm sure we'll touch on, my hero then was Levy Ashen, who was a Russian goalkeeper called the Cat. All dressed in Black 66 World Cup. My mam's working away. My dad's working away and I can't remember yet who got the tickets, but the actual Russia played at Roker Park. The old Sunderland Stadium. Yeah. And I got the tickets and I went and was the old fashioned used to stand in and I just remember going, and he was well known for the total black shorts, socks top. And I still to this day, remember the free kick went round the wall and everybody around me went GOAL And then all of a sudden this leap and it was like a puma. It was like a black puma, two hands. And he parried the ball like Peter Schmeichel, and it didn't go for a corner, it went for a Throw In And that stuck in my mind. So he was, bless his heart, he's no longer with us. He was my first hero, my second hero through playing. And then coaching was Gordon Banks, who in the 66 World Cup, obviously massive, game, played a part in us getting there. But also since then, I've met him two or three times. He's no longer with us. He actually Guested on the FA conference that we used to have the Goalkeeping conference in St. George's. And he was unbelievable. I still remember him now talking about the Save 1970 Guadalajara a great save from Pelé. And he actually demonstrates it on the stage and he's in a full suit, collar and tie. And his movement across the stage. It was absolutely the same as 1970. And I just looked and went, wow. Met him, went his funeral. the respect the people that had traveled for that guy. so yeah, that's really my two heroes, that I've had. And a lot of the, a lot of the actual techniques that I look at, I still look at banks and watch the footage that I've managed to get, so that when I do hand over individual techniques or how they should adapt the game, a lot of it is based on Gordon Banks

Paul: 6:14

as fascinating. that is incredibly detailed and I love it. and I think there's, definitely some stuff that I want to come back to in, in a, few moments, but, you mentioned it there earlier, Wallsend Boys. so you came up through Wallsend, which is, let's be honest, it's a, feeder club, feeder area for Newcastle United and, lots of other clubs in the area. what was it like kinda learning your trade there as a young keeper back in the day?

Eric: 6:39

Absolutely. When you look back, it not only gave you, so I'm actually going to the boys club while I'm up, I'm going on Tuesday to meet with the gentleman who has been behind over the last 50 odd years. Peter Kirkley he has scouted for Newcastle. But he's also looked at the boys club. He's seen a develop along with Steve Dale, the chairman. And they have now been responsible for 97 players in the 50 odd years have actually gone into pro football and earned pro contracts. So I was one of the first. I signed for Newcastle in 1972, but since then there's 96 of followed that. So what that gave was initially when you went to the boys club, it wasn't just football, it was going, you get home from school homework, then you walk, you go off to Wallsend Boys Club and you play table tennis or you'd play billiards, whatever. But you train as well. We actually did train one of the few clubs in the area that we, trained twice a week. week. But we are taught discipline. We were taught standards. So like you're saying, your, boys listening to this, the importance of if you book table tennis at six o'clock and you turn over at one minute past, you don't get on the table tennis table.

Paul: 7:48

Yeah.

Eric: 7:49

Don't be late as the great man that we're going to come on to. Sir Alex used to say, I'd rather you are 20 minutes early than two minutes late and he's spot on. So that these were life lessons that al learned. Be on time, be respectful. Always. We always shake hands at the end of the game. Whether we'd run, lost or draw. And this was again, through a lot of the coaches and the staff that were there. Dave Beard, who's not longer with us, he was the boys club manager and ran it. So there was just, it was a place where you could feel safe, secure, but boy you knew if you stepped outta line you didn't play. If you were late, you didn't play. Yep. And I thought that was really important. So yeah, I went to Burnside High School did stayed and did air levels. Worked one way through with Wallsend Boys Club, and then eventually I went and I was playing reserve football for Newcastle United when I was 16, 17 at St. James' Park. Amazing. And it was, again, that was all part up upgrades, but also it was just another chapter that went the importance of working training, being prepared for games, being organised being disciplined. That was really drilled into you. then eventually I started on the pro game when I was 18 and then carried on.

Paul: 9:04

What was it like when you first made that switch and you got into the, in, into the pro team and, you walked out in front of a full crowd?

Eric: 9:13

I think the big, I was blessed because again, going back, there'll not be many will remember this, but when I used to play at Newcastle, if you played first team on a Saturday and the first team were away, the reserve team was in the Central League as it was, then you'd play on St. James' Park. So I played in front of six hours at school studying air levels. Played for the school in the morning, going, playing in the afternoon for Newcastle Reserves. So I played about 14, 15 games. I played against people, Bobby Charlton, returning from injury, Colin Bell, and I'm going, I'm playing in all but there was four or 5,000 people. So you don't have that now.'cause the, you play U21s football, 23's where you're playing and there's three men and a dog and the coaching staff. Still a great environment on these fabulous pitches, but that upbringing, so I was actually, I think I played about nearly 15, 20 games in the Central League. So that was unbelievable grounding for me. So that you go away and I went away to Stoke City and again, a Gordon Banks story. I go, I've been picked up from school, I've got permission to go. I get to stoke, I've got me boots. What do I forget, the gloves. So always remember I said to the we didn't have kit men, then the physio used to do everything. Yeah. And I sent the physio. I've rushed outta school. I forgot, my gloves and oh my word. Guess who's happens to be the number one goalkeeper there? Gordon Banks. So off they go. They come back 10 minutes later, said, oh, we've got a pair of Gordon Banks, the green cotton gloves. You're welcome to have them, son. I went, welcome to have them. I didn't want to wear'em, but I did. Never going to get washed. Never met them. They didn't get washed from the actual game. And I still, to this day, I left them with my dad and I still don't know where they are. But the memory of actually getting nowhere was Gordon Banks'. But that was the fact that you were playing Gordon Banks had gone to watch the game. So that's, the way the game was then. Yeah. We've got too many tears at times now. But the actual, if you played first Team, brilliant. They didn't have seven subs. Nine subs, then one sub. That was it. So these were all part of the upbringing that you needed to have to appreciate when you did get pro and you did get in that first team dressing room. That's, that was just the start.

Paul: 11:26

Yeah. I think that's the key that I hear from a, lot of the coaches that we've interviewed so far, is you've gotta go through the rough times to appreciate the good. Right? Like nobody gets gifted that, pro contract. Nobody gets gifted game time. You've gotta work for everything. But when you do and you've gone through all of that, then the rough times that you've been through help you appreciate what's, coming.

Eric: 11:47

Well, sometimes you've gotta fail before you succeed. But what you do is, lessons are, did you learn, are you prepared to learn the lesson from when you failed? Yeah. I don't know a footballer yet. That hasn't failed in some capacity.

Paul: 11:57

Yeah.

Eric: 11:58

Whether he is missed a tackle, whether he is handball, accidentally missed a chance from three yards, all the various executors are here. Oh yeah. Miss, I'm cute. Oh yeah. The wind blew at the other, at the end of it. Sometimes it doesn't do any harm. Yeah. As long as it's part of your learning process. And that's both as a player and as a coach.

Paul: 12:16

Yeah. So then I guess, you know, when we look at what you talk about the level of professionalism that you were taught at Walls and Boys Club, then, do you think that's kind of, we talked at the beginning about, you know, you've got the, record for the consecutive number of appearances and, you've wrapped up hundreds of appearances, a player. do you think that's what instilled that level of dependability for you? That kind of, there was nothing going to stop you from playing week in, week out, and you were going to I guess, look after yourself in order to make sure that you could do that? Right.

Eric: 12:47

Without a doubt. Part of being a professional, I do it now where I, go into clubs and I'm helping people as a consultant and I'd say You having issues with certain players, yeah. Tell you what to do. Ask'em to spell professional, which some of them can't. When they can spell professional, ask'em what that means to them. It's amazing The answers you get. What you're looking for is what you would expect from your parents, whether they say, what do you think professional means? Being on time, never late for meetings. Turn up smart. Be prepared to listen. Be prepared to ask questions. All the things that we put into that. So I was, again, I was given that, so what I've done is lessons learned again, from when I turned well, I literally moved from playing into coaching very much. A lot of the lessons I had as a player, I carried on into coaching and that's part of it where I always say to the coaches, don't be afraid to ask a player. Yeah. How do you feel? What do you think you need more of? What went wrong last week? you haven't got any faults? We've got areas to improve. Oh yeah. All of a sudden. So if you, if again, I went away and learned psychology, which I think is important, especially for goalkeepers, but also for goalkeeper coaches.'cause the role in the last five, six years has totally changed.

Paul: 14:04

With that in mind then what was it that made you consider the leap from playing to coaching? Because whilst, everybody retires at some point, not everybody decides to take the leap into coaching and lots of other people go off and do all sorts of interesting ventures.

Eric: 14:18

Somebody told me and I, still to this day, I think it was the youth coach at Newcastle when I was there, he was a winger ex-player, Jeff Allen. And he actually said to me, I played for his youth team when we won the Northern Intermediate League where someone would play in it, Middlesborough Sheffield. So it was basically in and around the north of England. And he actually said to me, do you know what steel? He says, if you don't turn pro, I'll tell you what's going to help you be a coach as well. I think it'll help you help your game. It'll improve your game. And I did. So I went off. Then you had like a prelim and I went to Durham College when I signed pro and I went and did, and that was, there was no goalkeeping courses then It was out purely outfield. And I did, I went on that. And it's something that I'll actually advise a lot of goalkeepers players to do. Don't wait till you're 34, 35 and go, oh, I wish I'd done, I wish I'd done me. Yeah. I should have done that course. I should have done the A License should have done the beat. Yeah. So that really was sound advice and that did help me. And I've known other goalkeepers where I've said, go and do exactly what I was told to do. And that's helped. So I think you need now, as a goalkeeper, it's not enough just to keep the ball out the net, even though that is still the most important job. But you have to understand the game. Yeah. And I think as a coach, if you're coach, if you're playing and coaching, I think you'll definitely understand you'll value the game more.

Paul: 15:42

And I guess there's a certain amount of self-belief in there as well.'cause it is not everybody believes or there's a lot of self, sorry, a lot of imposter syndrome that sits in there and goes, well, why would anybody want to listen to me? You know, you're talking to a young 22, 23 year old goalkeeper."I've achieved nothing yet. Why would I want to be a coach?" What would your answer be to them?

Eric: 16:02

What you have to have is you have to, gain the knowledge and the experience. So a bit like I've said to a lot of the outfield coaches, if you start having to go a goalkeeper coaches, just remember we go and do your B license outfield, then we do the B license goalkeeper. We then do the A License outfield, and then we do the A License goalkeeper. How many goalkeeping courses badges have you been on? The answer is, no. Yeah, but you are just goalkeeper. They're just goalkeeper. Just goalkeeper coaches. So what I always say to my, the coaches that I've held through the FA system, so anybody who's been in the FA system will always get full support from me. So if somebody rings me and I get nearly always in the January or the summer window.

Paul: 16:43

Yeah.

Eric: 16:43

Steely. I need a goalkeeper, steely, I need a coach. What level he might be, YDP, youth development phase, professional phase. Okay. Very quickly. I just go down, run down. The people that I've worked with, even though I've been retired three, four years, I still know where they are.

Paul: 16:57

Yeah.

Eric: 16:58

So what I always say to them is, what you have to be prepared for is when you are asked your opinion, make sure you've got more, and it doesn't necessarily, it's no good. It's no good just saying, yes, Paul. Hey, I agree with that. No, Paul, you've gotta put some reasoning behind that. That's the way you develop. So if you don't understand the game, go and learn it. If you don't understand enough about psychology, go and do an online course. If you don't know enough about weight lifting, go and do the bowler course. Yeah. So, which I did. So then if, when sports science comes in and the fitness coaches, I know exactly what I want. When I say I want Olympic lift on, I want a clean, I want a snatch. Snatch is an important one for the goalkeepers. Why? Because they've gotta have the reach for that top corner. Top corner. What's behind it? Well, you make the athlete in the gym, you make the goalkeeper on the grass. Yep. That hasn't changed. What has changed is the amount of. People that are got into sports science now from all different domains and you look and go, wow. Experience that they've got. But again, they understand the game. Yeah. So I keep saying to coaches, why did you do that warmup when it or no relationship to the actual session you just coached? So your preparation has to be thorough. Do you plan, do you do the coaching? Biggest thing in coaching, do you review?

Paul: 18:16

Excuse me. A lot of'em don't. Yep. And I guess then with that in mind, you've worked with, and we haven't, really gone into this yet in the intro, what you've worked with some of the biggest names in football and certainly in goalkeeping. So Van Der Sar, David David de Gea. Ben Foster... peter Schmeichel for crying out loud. look. the boy fan in me, sitting here, just like, I've got so many questions that I could, we, I could literally keep you here all night asking questions about even just Schmeichel on his own. one of my boyhood heroes as we were discussing before the podcast. But in your mind, what, separates the, truly world-class elite from really good goalkeepers that we might see every day? What's, what separates that? What separates, what's that extra level?

Eric: 19:06

What? Well, there's the good and the great They have something special. So I was fortunate to work with Peter, Edwin Van Der Sar.. So Peter was, as you would see if he walked in this room, now he's got a physical presence. Everybody thinks his shoulders, he deliberately walks with his shoulder. No, he was born that way. And bear in mind, if you actually have a look at Peter and look at some of the documentaries being done, everybody says about now the growth. Oh, my boy's going to be, you know what? While his granddad was 6'4 Okay, good. Yeah. He's done. There's only 6'2 Yeah. Okay. Now there's various ways you can do now to find medically To give you a really good 98% Correct. Which I used at Man United to say to 13 year olds, 15 year olds, we're going to do this procedure. This will give us an idea because in the end, if you get the 15, we don't want to disappoint you and hurt you. You're better off going off at 13 and going and learn other sports.

Paul: 20:01

Yep.

Eric: 20:02

But Peter had this unbelievable presence about, and he was physical, but he also was, because he was the one that always berated, had a right go, he'd make the save and it'd be somebody else's fault because they didn't stop the cross coming Or Steve Bruce would get stick because he hadn't marked the attacker. Yeah. So Steve Bruce would turn and said, well, that's your job to save it anyway, Peter. But everything he did was for the benefit of the team. Everybody thought it was all about him, it wasn't. That was that was the, show that, deep down Peter Schmeichel was, he knew how to be a major part of that team. Physical presence, the actual talking that he would do. When I was with him at, Villa, he, I never realised I got in the dress room. He actually made, he went round the back four as we played. Then he made them feel a million dollars, and then they knew if anything gets past you, I'll be there. Yep. So he is to say, and we had a classic moment. We had the, we had him as a guest on the, the FA's conference, goalkeeper conference at st. George's. And it's been going well. And he is presented everything else. He, well now take questions from the floor. So he's answered a few about, you know, so when you start it, he played the handball. This was the big shape, which the core, now the X, which is ridiculous, but it was actually, this was the big shape that he Yeah. He learned that in handball. He transferred that to his goalkeeper. So then somebody turned around and said, Peter, question, how did you deal with mistakes? So there was, you know, and there's a, pause, Paul. Yeah. Pause for like five seconds. I went, I didn't make mistakes. And you had three 50 people and the order went exactly the same as you said, I didn't make mistakes. No. And in the end, that was the confidence and assurance that he had.

Paul: 21:54

And

Eric: 21:55

he had that special ability and he did make unbelievable saves. Edwin was the gentleman on and off the field and his, phrase was always the same. I want to be the calmest man on the field. He was also the calmest man off the field. Total respect. When I used to see, when I used to see the reaction of other goalkeepers and players end the game to go and shake hands with Van Der Sar, that was a total respect. And he was an all round goalkeeper, unbeliev, everybody would know. He was 15 before he became a goalkeeper. He was at Ajax. He was a center half.

Paul: 22:27

Yeah.

Eric: 22:27

Wow. Did that help him in the way he played? Because he was the one out of the three that had this unbelievable ability. To be the calmest man on the field when the ball came back. So like now where we're all talking about the keepers have to have this and that. Edwin was a natural. But he also had this presence about him that he would calm and he'd make saves in a really calm way. He'd get up, make the save, he might probably touch Ev patch he ever walk past and go, great, save whatever. It would be very gentle. Next thing would be right, we've gotta deal with the corner. Then we go to David. David was obviously, I helped bring him in under De Sar, who always believed in young players. He'd never really brought a young goalkeeper at 19, 20 years of age. but we brought him in'cause we knew he was a supreme talent. And I did, I watched him 17 times live over 18 months, and we needed to have somebody that was going to follow Van Der Sar and people forget this. What a job that was. What a task. What about the task for the poor person had to take over from Peter Schmale in 19 nine? Huge shoes to fill. Yeah. 15 goalkeepers they used before they brought Edwin in. In 2004, Edwin went 2004 to 2011. Then David came in. David straight away had a massive shoes and gloves to fill. Edwin Van der Sar, his hero, which I never knew was David's hero, was Peter Schmeichel. And I only found out when I was doing the, I was doing a special presentation and actually spoke to his, spoke to his teacher in Spain. cause I'd learned Spanish knowing he was coming in and we got the same professor to teach him English, which was an absolute scream because we used to have an agreement once a month we'd go out for a meal and he would have to order his meal in English. And I had order my meal in Spanish and we had the professor there. Yeah. It was chaos, but it was good. But that's, and he had all of us to contend with. He couldn't drive when he came to Manchester. So he took all of that on? Yes. It was a tough start, but we knew that. But the great man had every confidence and we went to always remember it went to Chelsea early December. One matter who was a really good friend of his in the Spanish National, put the ball over the top of the wall, three steps, top hand, pushes it out. We draw the game three three, we're walking down the tunnel and Sir Alex says, Steely, we've got a goalkeeper. Just walked on. And that was the beginning. So then he won everything at Man United Bar Champions League, 550 games. So he was, a special, talent. But again, calm, nothing phased him. Nothing fa and that's what the greats do. That's what the greats do.

Paul: 25:17

So, you know, you've, been, noted as saying that was a, an education working with, Edwin at Man United. Is, that kind of. How, did that shape how you coached future goalkeepers, having worked with him in that time when he was just kind of coming through and then through to his peak? What, lessons did you take for the younger keepers from that?

Eric: 25:37

I think the, probably the most successful part of my was I was a good listener as a coach, which always say the people listen and I've kept diaries. I've got in my loft at home, I've got diaries, I've got every session I've coached over 40 years and it's, I've transferred some to computer, which you can do now. such, but what I've al always believed in that you have to, don't be afraid to ask. I said it earlier, don't be afraid to ask. And the best thing I did was I took, when I was at Derby, when I started there, I had Mark Poom and Lee Grant, who's now manager, Huddersfield Lee Camp, who went on to make record appearances. I had him as 11-year-old putting him in the team. And I then I left there and I went to Aston Villa and I've got Peter and I've got, then I've got Thomas Sørensen. But the one thing that it gave me is that experience of being working under Jim Smith, Steve McClaren. Then I went to Villa and worked with, John Gregory, who I played with at Brighton and Derby. And then I went from there to Man City with Sven Goran. So by the time I got to United, thank goodness I'd been through three different real terrific coaches, man management people. And I don't think I would've had as much success in my coaching career if I hadn't listened and learned during, through that process. So I'll go back to it. I made mistake. But the one thing I learned, and Peter always remembers this, my first meeting with Peter as I turned and I said to him, what do you need? Oh my God, you are the first coach that's ever asked me. My old coach always say, why do you open your legs and your arms and you come like this? And I said, you? I said, no. What can I do? I want to know what do you need? What do? And he was coming to an end of a career. So he needed his body being managed. So we went through stuff and said, yeah, no problem. We can do that pre, we can do it post. There's no need for you sometimes to be out. You could have the morning, the gym where you on a stretch program, whatever, with the physios. And that was why. And that really, I carried that through my, to my man city days when I worked with Joe Hart and Kasper. Schmeichel, very similar. So Joe, you're 20 now. Kasper's. Kasper's 20. You are 19 What do you need, Steely I just want to keep training. I just love training. Joe would train from morning to night. Yeah. So you had to calm him down kasper, as I said, he wanted certain things within training. That you had to provide. So I was lucky that, again, because I'd been told to coach early, I had a lot of them lessons put into me when I was 18, 20. And I was playing at the same time. So that was the big, I think the people, and I've been asked this before and people said to me, so do you think you are a, you're a better coach than you were a goalkeeper? And I go, you're probably, yeah, you're probably right. So as much as I've won six promotions, played for my country, thoroughly enjoyed my playing career. But when I look at what I did and achieved, I mean, football's given me, I've been fortunate football to play in a sport that's given me a living for 50, 52 years and I've been proud of that. I've being able to pay to stay, fit and play. So when I get people mourning about it, I think give over. You mean the people would give, the people that come into now the stadium alike, the people go into the Samara of the North in James Park, they would give anything to have a year, a month, or a lot of the professional footballers have. So I never took it for granted. And I always looked upon it as, and somebody said to me, you asked me earlier, the answer to the question was somebody who was a gentleman called Alan Hodgkinson, who played for Sheffield United, England, he found Schmeichel for Sir Alex. He also helped me find de Gea. And he played for Sheffield United, England, not the biggest. 5'10". So he got told many, times, you're not big enough. He just turned around with his Good Yorkshire accent and go, yeah, but I'm going to be good enough. And he was Now, he was my first goal. He was my first real Goalkeeping coach. 25. I played over 200 games before I got a proper coach. Had great help at the boys club, but they literally have a book under their arm. Yeah, open the book and go, right, we're going to do, but at least to try this was Peter Kirtley again. Yeah, And I valued that. He actually took that time and he was, it was Alan Wade. Nobody had, that was the only book he could get. Then now you can go online, you can get whatever you want in whatever you want from anywhere in the world. But somebody then a good friend of mine, turned and said, you know what? He said You'd make a really good coach. He said, but specialise So I never wanted to be a manager, and that was really very much my way. I've still worked as assistant. No problem at all. But at the time my, somebody told me 25, 26, and I was working with Alan, he went"Steely, you'd make you a great coach.'cause you know, eventually we're going to win. We're going to be full-time." So end of the nineties we enter to 2000. That's when the full-time coaches start to come in.

Paul: 30:32

I love it. I love it. there's again, there's just, there's so many questions I could ask. One story I do want to hear though, it's Ben Foster and an iPod.

Eric: 30:45

Oh

Paul: 30:45

yeah. It's the early Jordan Pickford, isn't it?

Eric: 30:48

Yeah.

Paul: 30:49

Tell me about it. What happened?

Eric: 30:50

Right, so we've we're at Man United and we had something I'd never experienced until I got to Man United. We had a rotation system in my first year, 2008, 2009 season, because we had Edwin Van der Sar, Ben Foster, Tomasz Kuszczak, Ben Foster had been away, been on loan, done really well, was being playing for England. So he was playing some like 16 to 20 games. Because then Man United the way they were at the moment, it's not that way. We're hoping they're going to get back to that. You would expect to be a 65, 70 game season. There's no way we were going to ask Edward at his age to play. So we used to actually something I'd never done, Paul. So I would go into SO'S office always the first Monday of the month, seven o'clock in the morning, walk in and he'd have the flip charts and he'd pick the teams for every game we've got that month. So he'd turn out to me and my job was to give an opinion when asked, as I said, his job was to make the big decisions. That's why he got the big books.

Paul: 31:51

Yeah.

Eric: 31:51

But he turned and say, Steve, we're going to be playing Tottenham. Who do you think you would play? I'd play Co that way. Oh, foster. They'd be fine. Right. Okay. Boom. Now what about midweek? Oh, midweek. We're playing portal away. I'm going to play Ronaldo through the middle. Nobody else knows. Yep. When you new play, Edwin.'cause we might have to take the sting outta the game. They're going to come at us. So we went through all that. But Ben played with Couza games as well as the Carl and Cook Games. So Ben gets to Wembley against Spurs and we, as we did my preparation, was always prepared to say, right, if it goes to penalties, don't worry. What we did then was, I mean now they can have a computer sitting in the dugout, two of them. One either end, yeah, in the dugout areas now, but at the time, no, you weren't allowed that. So all we did was I sat down with the analyst, we went through and we said, right, this is what's this? This is going to be the penalty takers. We need to get ready. I said, tell you what, then I'm not going to be able to grab you if you are going to be up the, on the actual, in the director's box where you're looking after all the filming of it.'cause it didn't matter whether it was Sky, B, C, whatever. We'd still have our own cameras there. So I said, no problem. I said, tell you what to do. We'll get the penalties. So we worked through, we'd put'em all on the iPod. So I, people realised we're getting a nil full time. So full time we get a break before we go into the extra time. It was then. I went to Ben and said, Ben, have a look now at the penalties. So I always remember Edwin was in the tunnel at Wembley with me, and he was there going steel. Yeah, I like that. I like that. So we were on the iPod and I said to Ben, go on. Going off two minutes. The referee said, it's three minutes before we start exit time. So he went off, looked at them all, get to the end of the game of which he won, man of the match. And Capella, actually, the England manager, gave him the man of the match trophy. But what happened was we got to the penalties and one of the ones that, Jamie O'Hara, who was on Sky every other day, now, I'd seen him play for the under 20 ones, 10 days earlier. And I said to Ben, I said, tell you what, it's not on the iPod. Jamie O'Hara, if he takes the panic, they'll go to your right. That's the only one you gotta remember. Brilliant. Getting the panic shoot out. Jamie O'Hara comes up left footed, Ben goes, bang, and they won the Carling Cup they go Mad. The next day, Tottenham are going mad. It's illegal. The appeal to the fa they said, FA, are you sure there's illegal? There was no direction. So I got known as the iPod King, and then people tried to knock me down and say, what you doing that's cheating? And I said, how's it cheating? All I'm doing is I can't take a big computer. So it was the iPod and I've still got the shirt in my study at home to steely from Ben Foster, the iPod King signed Ben. Amazing. And that really, it, it, took, it was two, three weeks. He going grow up, get on with it. But when you look now, crikey me, you know, they put things on the bottles. They put things on their wrists. The girls tend to want to do it on their wrists or their arms. Yeah. Jordan brilliant. Puts him on his water bottle. If it does the job, it does the job. But that's really now how thorough, and you look at it, nothing, it's only, it's like one percent's 2%. It's still about the performance, but that detail might not be one 2%. Yeah. Could be the one 2% that wins you the car and cup. What did Sir Alex think of all that? Nobody knew we were doing it. Nobody knew we were doing it. Didn't have a Scooby doo. Two, three days somebody walked in the press office and said, Hey, steeley's getting stick. What? I thought he's a Geordie, that's why I said no, I'm not getting stick for being a Geordie. Can you imagine the Geordie Scotsman talk about the Hadrian's wall that used to come up regular? Yeah. Yeah. Because I used to say to him, we only built Hadrian's wall. That was to stop the English. Thinking about going over that way. So he used to say, you, you gimme that. And he, and in the end that's where he said, I've never heard of any of that. Never even knew for three days. And the press office said, oh, steely is getting a bit of flack. It's probably'cause he's a Geordie But in the end now we just moved on and then the game's moved on. Now.

Paul: 35:58

Yeah.

Eric: 35:59

Where crikey me, you can come and watch everything VAR, which means very average response. In my mind, I think it's,

Paul: 36:06

I've got no complaints after this weekend, but I can't talk about that right now.

Eric: 36:09

It's a game Killer. I think it's a game Killer. It is. I really agree. I agree. I feel for fans that

Paul: 36:15

we, so we, without going in particulars, we, are celebrating the goal. We're, obviously it's three o'clock game. We're, we've got it on the radio, we're celebrating the goal, and then all of a sudden the commentator stops like, oh, we, we, there's an offside check. There's an offside check. It definitely wasn't offside, but we all know we're all sat at home. We all know it doesn't matter whether it was offside or it wasn't offside. It's all down to what the computer thinks it is. And all of a sudden the celebrations have to stop in the house while we all sit and wait for the radio. and then it comes back, oh yeah, it's a goal. Let's go. And you then you're like kind of half celebrating. It's like, yeah. I thought it was a couple of minutes ago.

Eric: 36:53

you know,

Paul: 36:53

and

Eric: 36:53

think

Paul: 36:53

about

Eric: 36:54

when you're in the stadium, fans don't celebrate as such now because straightaway they go, oh, this'll be, this is a bit dodgy. Whatever. And the don't celebrate as they used to do. We had games last year. The average time I think was around 97, 98 minute. The games in the Premier League last year. Now that was not why it was set up. When they set up in America and the trial it in the MLS and the MLS, they actually have the screen. They used to send them the referee straight away. There's a doubt. Straight in the air bump, there's a doubt. Go the screen. We don't, we go that while they're go Stockley Park and they talk through it, the walk through it, everything else crack, get in. They need an iPod and then a quicker they had my iPod. And it does. And I think it's done nothing, for me, for the benefit of the game. We've got a great product. Why do we love Everybody in the world loves the Premier League because it's so diverse that you can have a result where you can have the bottom team can beat the top team. There's so many different styles, everything else. But the one thing that really is spoiling at times is the ar. We've got that off our chest, haven't we?

Paul: 37:56

Well, that's, part of it though, right? Like that's That's part of the, changes in the game that you'll have seen from, back in the day. And it's,

Eric: 38:03

oh, well I've seen the changes that have affected goalkeepers. Four seconds now we've got eight seconds for Otherwise you get the corner given against you. Right? Yeah. So we've done the, we've done the back pass rule, we've now got the center halves in the 18 yard box. We've had the four sec, it was used to be four second rule when I played. Yeah. Yeah. and now all of a sudden we're on eight seconds and yet the referee starts counting down. Counting down, yeah. Then you give a corner away. Now invention of doing leave the game is what it is, what people want to see.

Paul: 38:36

We could have just enforced the rules that we put in place. The first place.

Eric: 38:39

Yeah,

Paul: 38:39

exactly. so along with having worked with some of the most amazing keepers in the world, you've also, as you've already pointed out, worked with some of the most amazing managers in the world as well. Sir Alex Ferguson, Steve McClaren, many, others. How did you find that you had to adapt your, goalkeeper coaching based on who the manager was, what, was, you know, what went on behind the scenes,

Eric: 39:05

obviously, when you're employed? The first thing I always say that, and I advise the coaches to do the same as I, I'd go in, whether it be Jim Smith, the Bald Eagle, when he, bless his heart, he was at Newcastle. He was, and obviously I worked with him at, Derby Graham Taylor, John Gregory, David O'Leary, Sven Goran. The one thing, the first conversation I would always have after the interview I've been given the job was I needed to know what was the philosophy of the head coach? What's, your beliefs? How do you want to play the game? What can I do working with the goalkeepers to help the team? So everything was not about the goalkeepers in isolation, it was for me. So my, my always first port of call was to speak to head coaches. Some were very receptive, some would say, but just get on with the job. You know what you gotta do,

Paul: 39:48

fine.

Eric: 39:50

But others would say, yeah, I want them involved. So like now the modern coach, but like we've done today, on these HQ sessions for Evo is that, that's what that was about. Just to show'em how we should interact more with the outfield coaches. Something I had a fantastic five years working at Man United where Sir Alex wasn't involved in the day-to-day sessions. He would always be there, but he left that to his assistant manager, Mick Phelan and his first team coach, René Meulensteen and myself, sports science and the doctor. So there was constant meetings on planning doing, would review in the afternoons. And that really was my philosophy, which again, I was taught very early on in Hodgkinson back to him. Steely, just find out what, does the manager want, what does the head coach need? Is he going to be very direct? If you watch when Peter played Peter had ever played in the year we've got now where he could, like his son's had to learn how to play. Peter was used to, he was the best counter attacker. In the game. Yeah. Not with his feet, with his ability to throw. Yeah. So I always remember when I got to Villa, Graham Taylor took over temporarily for three months and he said, we've got to utilize the best counter attacking goalkeeper in the world. And it was to do with Peter and I have, I've, got videos of him where he sets up Ole Gunnar Solskjær throw, unbelievable. So if you don't find that out from your head coach, that's where your basis of your actual relationships. So I talk to coaches about, you must develop, your interpersonal skills have to go on with your players, your goalkeepers and the team, but also your interaction with staff is vital so that we're on the same page. You don't want it whereby the goalkeeper we've got No, we shouldn't be out for the back. We need to launch it. No, Good doing that. Head coach wants to build from the back. Yeah. Why? Well, we've got Scholes, we've got Schmeichel Carrick.

Paul: 41:42

Yeah,

Eric: 41:43

we've got Van Persie. If we hit the ball into him, he's going to chest it. We'll play from there. We can go wide, we can give it a Giggs here on one side Valencia on the other. So if the throw is on, we throw wide. These are all things that you have to, it doesn't just happen on the training room. Easier with Paul, with good players. Yeah, even easier with great players. Yeah. And I was witness to that when I went to United. Oh, dear me. Simple. Given the simple instructions they just played.

Paul: 42:10

So then taking what you've said there, combined with what we were talking about before and the changes in the game, the technology via or, and all the new rules and things, what do you think, what do you think, how do you think that's affected goalkeepers mental game, if you like? How, do they have to think differently now compared to what they did 10, 15 years ago even?

Eric: 42:33

Good question. They've gotta think more. They've gotta understand the game. And back to the thread again. If they don't understand the game, they're not going to be able to have the ability to play. Have a look at the Breath Fresh Air Clubs in the Premier League in the last two, three years. Brighton, Alban Brentford, crystal Palace. What have they been asked? Their goalkeepers have been asked the form of deserve. He deserve. he wanted to be able to play. He wanted to be able to vary. Yeah. So Jason Steele might be in the team. Jason was very good. If they went to a team where they knew they'd leave space will play Jason Steele today. Next game they might want to invite the press on, invite the pressure, and we can play. So I think now there's more thought goes into it has to be. Yeah. And what you have to be then is as goalkeepers, you have to be immensely stronger. Yeah. To say, yep. Can you handle that? Now all I ever do is when I'm working with the outfield coaches, I says, I don't mind. I don't mind the fact that, yeah, we're going to look to play around. We're going to look to play through into the midfield areas. Someon have done it really, well. Yeah, they do it differently at Newcastle because of the goal with Nick Pope. Nick's not as comfortable as playing the short ball, but he's excellent at the throw. As we saw last week against Benfica. He's also excellent at launching the ball out of his hands or off the floor. So again, if you don't understand the strengths, yeah, you've then got to work that with the team. Hence, the reason why my big push was today to watch the actual session back, I'll watch it, is that you need to have the goalkeepers involved with the outfield more and more if you want to play that way where you're going to build. So it's a consideration that the head coach has to have with all of his staff, not just with his goalkeeper coach.

Paul: 44:17

With that, then, who would you see has been the most difficult goalkeeper to work with? And I don't mean that in terms of them being difficult as a person, but what's been the biggest challenge?

Eric: 44:31

Biggest challenge, do you know? I've been lucky. I have been lucky'cause I've worked with greats. Good, really good people, good characters who will go under the radar, but they've still had a really, good career. I very rarely had problems with goalkeepers.'cause the one thing we have, as you know, there's a union and we do tend to support. I've never been at a club where we used to spend Monday to Friday. It was a clear week and I used to always say, okay, Monday, Tuesday is all about what? What we feel as staff, the goalkeeper, the players need fine. Thursday, Friday was about what the goalkeeper needs, but in particular your number one on the buildup to the game. So we always worked. I worked on that theory for a long, time. And other coaches, outfield coaches, said steel. Exactly right. We'll do the shape on a Tuesday, we'll look at it again on the Thursday, but we won't. If you've got the best players, which is what I was lucky enough that I worked with Sir Alex, we worked on the 80 20% rule. Yeah. 80% was about us. So you can imagine mentally what that does for the players. 20% was about what we'll do on the opposition. We've got the ball. Now, if you've got that belief, so you in the instill that within your goalkeepers, and we do spend a lot more time on a one-to-one basis than the outfield coaches. But at Man United it wouldn't be, if you walked in at 12 o'clock, you'd actually see four of the strikers working with a goalkeeper and an outfield coach. I might have the other strikers working on cutbacks. So amazingly the goalkeepers were getting varied work the whole time because it was planned that way. So I never had the, one that was awkward at the time was Kasper when he was just growing up when he was actually 20 and he was just desperate to play. Yeah. And he had Joe Hart as competition in Isaksson his competition. The Swedish number one. Yeah. And he just was so impatient, so nothing gave me more pleasure than when he left city. Went to Notts County and he won his first medal as such different man. Then he goes on to Leicester, imagine what the pressure he felt with the dad he had. Yeah. But then he went to Leicester and he won the league. And you go Wow. In his own right. So yeah, I think, again, I look back and I go very rarely, I can't even think of one. I had a problem with Victor Valdez. I went in for four weeks at Middlesborough to help him out. And Valdez was coming to the end of Korea and he was an argumentative. Yeah. And we had, Brad Guzan Konstantopoulos was there. The Greek boy used to be at HarHartlepool And that was a difficult four weeks, but I was only there four weeks. So I really don't account that. Yeah. But Valdez knew and end of season he left, he went. Yeah. and it was understandable'cause he'd gone from that serious injury and he just, his career was starting to go that way. Yeah. But no, Paul, in all honesty, no, there wasn't that, there wasn't one though at handle court. Big problem.

Paul: 47:27

Yeah. Was flip that on its head then. Was there a, particular goalkeeper who taught you something that you didn't expect?

Eric: 47:36

Oh yeah, they all did. They all did. I've never seen a calmness like I saw with Edwin Van der Sar Joe Hart one of the bravest I've ever seen. Joe used to actually say to people, just hit through me, go and try and hit through me. He'd come out one on one, go, and hit through me. Unbelievable. Just no fear. Hit the ball wherever. No fear at all. Then you'd get your people like, Peter, and he would do, things, I'd say unbelievable, like he would, Leeds away. He's caught across and he, and I've got, I always remember David and said, what's he doing? And he actually ran out the box on a diagonal, rolled the ball, he could have thrown it, and he actually hit a ball to rise for Sal on a one-on-one with the defendant. And I'm there and their alternative. Stevie, what you doing? I said, have a look what he's doing now, he's having to go with der facade because he didn't make anything of a great opportunity one-on-one. He put the ball wide. So you'd have loads of little stories like that. What always, never felt the surprise me was the actual pleasure they got. And I always go back to the Italians were the best, so the greatest one for me, Buffon, who I met. Yeah. You watch the Italians.

Paul: 48:52

Yeah,

Eric: 48:52

you watch the Italians. If the defenders make a block, you watch the up in high fives. Buffon 20 minutes later makes a unbelievable save Cialdini, straight over. Well, I'd never known anything like it. That was the thing I love to see. Yeah. Edwin, when he made a great decision on an early free kick set, Wayne Rooney threw after 25 seconds at Old Trafford, Wayne Rooney went on chest volley Brad Goose on one knee up after 24 seconds, turn the camera around. All you see is Patrice Evra running, jumping on Edwin. Yeah. And appreciating what he'd done. Rio coming up going, brilliant. Somebody else.

Paul: 49:33

Yeah.

Eric: 49:33

So I think that was one of the nicest parts when you see how the players saw the volume and what they did.

Paul: 49:39

Yeah. And I think, you know, my, my boy looks at the Jordan Pickford. So, you, when you look at the way and he emulates him on the pitch, you know, you'll, he makes a great save and he's up celebrating, he's trying to rile the crowd off. he's under eight and he's trying to rile the crowd up. And I'm like, yeah, that's, where, you know, it's, almost to a point where keepers get forgotten. It's, you know, it's certainly a grassroots age. It's very much kind of, everybody else gets man of the match and, you know, you can have a great game and then all of a sudden somebody pops up and scores two goals at the death and wins the game for the team. And it's very easy. Forgotten. But like you say, it's, I, always find it quite fun to watch those moments where, the goalkeeper get the recognition that they absolutely deserve.

Eric: 50:17

When you see it now it's like it goes in circles. Every, nobody wants to be a number nine at the moment. Yeah. They don't want to be the 10, or they want to be the six or the eight that are controlling the actual So Caciedo at Chelsea. Oh, I want to be caoCaciedohy is that? I want to be a man at, I don't want to mention Newcastle, in case it upsets you, but you've got Xhaka there now. Yeah. You'll find a lot of Sunderland fans wanting to be a midfield player now that it just goes in cycles. Yeah. Then all of a sudden it'll turn and it'll go, man, city, how many kids want to be Edison? Yeah. When they saw, not just making save, but being responsible for eight, nine goals on assists.

Paul: 50:54

Yeah.

Eric: 50:54

So it is fashionable.

Paul: 50:55

Yeah.

Eric: 50:56

And it does come around and work that way. So at the moment, I, listened to Alan Shearer the other day. I think it was yesterday before the game, and he was talking about, he said, I'm not too sure people, everybody in Newcastle wanted to be Jackie Millburn. They wanted to be Malcolm McDonald. They wanted to be Alan Shearer Win Davis, I mean, all names that you, your too young to remember. Some of them.

Paul: 51:15

Yeah.

Eric: 51:15

But ultimately it was to be a#9 at Newcastle. It was the ultimate. Yeah. And that's why sheer still held you. You know, you watch the, goals that he scored, but all of a sudden now in the modern game, oh, I might want to be one of them defenders that's come out with a ball.

Paul: 51:30

Yeah.

Eric: 51:31

Or I want to be the six and the four. They get the ball from the goalkeeper and turn and get play going. All of a sudden in that's where the game is fashionable. Yeah. But in this country, your kids, the coaches that coach the game as well, their kids have got an unbelievable opportunity. When you see what's open to them via their computers, their iPod, whatever they use, they can learn the game. So I always say that's fine, but don't just let'em watch. Certainly let'em see the game and explain to it why that happens, why that goes on.'cause they will learn. There will become sponges.

Paul: 52:05

And then before we, before, I've got one more really interesting question that I do need to ask, which ties back to your childhood idol, but then you got involved, you know, we, we've edged onto it nicely there with the, with grassroots football. You, you got involved heavily with EvoGK as we can see by the top. How did that happen? what's the, thinking behind that for

Eric: 52:24

you? You know, I still can't remember how James Howarth the owner and he rang me, oh, this is, this is my dinner coming in edit. so what basically happened was James rang me and he said, look, I'm looking to form this company as such, would you mind coming and doing a, I've seen the FA conference when you presented on that. would you be prepared to do a, we're going to do similar. I want to get local goalkeepers, or I might even go on. So you started at Slay Hall and as I said to you at the time, you're going to find it difficult. It's a long way for people to come to Newcastle. Anyway, we did that. I went to Slaley Hall. I presented the forum for the first time. And then I went off the next, I went straight off after I couldn't stay for the weekend'cause my wife was running the Liverpool half marathon and I wanted to be there. But that was the start. And since then with, James and a lot of the other coaches we've actually built and you look at what's available now through Evo, it's a great platform for kids, for coaches parents. And we've just gradually over the six years we've introduced the women's game. You know, helped'em get Ian Wilcox, who was the Man United goalkeeping coach. I helped him get, Chris Williams who was at Man City. Yep. All of a sudden we've had for the girls,'cause obviously now they're a major part. When you look at Newcastle, Sunderland Mioddlesbrough Durham. You know, we've got four women's teams very close by. So it's just been a gradual development. And if you look at the coaches that we've ended up that have come up to the Northeast to present all credit to James that, you know, and we've, you know, obviously I'm an ambassador for him, so I help him put things together. He still does a lot of the groundwork. and he loves it, as does his parents. Yeah. His mam and dad.

Paul: 54:10

Yeah.

Eric: 54:11

you can't go at the beacon of light when you've got a goalkeeper event on. You look up and she's there

Paul: 54:15

Yeah.

Eric: 54:16

With all the shirts and the shorts and she's talking to the parents. So it's a family affair. so yeah, it's been, it's been a pleasure to be part of it and it's been great to see the way it's grown. And just today I can't wait to see the footage. We've got James involved today. He was there and it was blowing a, just starting to blow a gale. Yeah. He was there and just like me short, he had short t-shirt on because we were one goalkeeper short. Yeah. And there he was in a, amongst or so he's, and I think he's learned and he's grown as a coach, as a person. so I think he should be rightfully proud of what he's done in the six years.

Paul: 54:50

Yeah, absolutely. and you know, I talk with my family a lot is the northeast, is the home of football. Yeah. You know, we've got so much passion. In the Northeast four football itself for, being fans, for playing football, to be, part of the, and we're so privileged to be part of fan base of the biggest clubs in the country, which is part of the biggest league in the world is, phenomenal. And this is

Eric: 55:13

what you've waited so long for. Can't wait for Newcastle, Sunderland, Newcastle,

Paul: 55:19

and hopefully Middlesborough next year. Yeah. So you look and go

Eric: 55:22

having been and born and bred, I know what the northeast means.

Paul: 55:25

Yeah.

Eric: 55:26

I know what it means. To the Geordies to the, Wearside people, the teeside people. It's a, it is vital. It's a huge, it's part of their lives.

Paul: 55:34

Yeah.

Eric: 55:34

And it's great to see a full, I mean, you only talk about two years ago you couldn't fill the stadium of light. You're struggled to get the big crowds now. Look where you are.

Paul: 55:41

Yeah.

Eric: 55:42

And all credit to again, the owners and the staff that have brought the, this new coaching. I think I look, I'll look at the coaches and the level of what they've brought in. Yeah. And I know the goalkeeper coach really well. Neil Cutler, Alessandro Barcherini he's gone from coach to assistant head coach. So, yeah, I think it's absolutely brilliant times for the Northeast.

Paul: 56:03

And I think it's interesting'cause I see a lot of, you know, obviously of as a kid brought up with the Newcastle Sunderland rivalry and we love it. I love it. I love the banter, the camaraderie, the crack. but to see, you know, I, remember we were at the, with the Coventry Playoff final and we won and people were celebrating like we'd won the World Cup and, it did feel like we'd won the World Cup, I'm not going to lie. And what was really fun was, I remember being on YouTube watching, you know, the highlight reel and people underneath were commenting, oh, look at them over celebrating. It was a lot of Coventry fans on there, and I understand the bitterness, but the irony was there was a lot of New Castle fans on there going, do you know what? Let them have their moment. Let them have their moment. And I think that, that is the spirit of football I see in the Northeast. That's, the bit that I want to see going forward. Not, going back to the Hooliganism of the seventies but No. You know, moving forward in, you know, the northeast being the new Manchester of football and long mate continue. bring it back then to that last question that I absolutely have to know the answer to. So, your childhood idols, how do you think they would fare in the modern game?

Eric: 57:11

Actually would've no problem. again, they would have to learn the game in terms of the playing out. That's definitely, you know, people ask me that about Peter going yeah, I could play in this morning game. I, he just always go on the, the possession at the start. He thought he could play as such. He was the best ever at hitting the ball into a channel or whatever. banks would have to learn the game. What he wouldn't have to learn is how to come and command and take is eight yards out. Yeah. Come and punch him to go 30 yards. Calm the whole place down. Gordon never knew how he got into position sometimes. It was a, he was a natural. Yeah. I said, Hey to mate, did you realise Gordon, that you've gone from there today? He said, no, I just, I knew you didn't know when to stop in line with the ball. So you'd get in line, then go down the line, you would actually get there and just hold yourself and that was your big, So a bit like Peter did. He'd just say, go on, then beat me or Joe put it through me. Gordon was even calm on that. He would just go there and they had them big, long arms.

Paul: 58:10

Yeah.

Eric: 58:10

so yeah, they'd both have to learn the attributes that you would need to be able to play out. But I think with the intelligence, the goalkeeping intelligence, the football intelligence, yeah, they could do it.

Paul: 58:22

Fantastic. Eric, I could absolutely talk to you for another four or five hours, but I'm conscious that you do need to actually get some food at some point. We need to bring this to a halt. we'll have to do this again. I've really enjoyed it. Thank you so much for your time and sharing your knowledge with us today.

Eric: 58:36

My pleasure. Good luck to everybody. I hope they enjoy it.

Paul: 58:38

Thanks very much Eric.