Bruce Grobbelaar spent nearly fourteen years at Liverppol, and will probably be remembered for his eccentricities on the pitch along with his great goalkeeping skills, the reality is that she won six League titles, three FA Cups, three League Cups and famously one European Cup in 1984.Born in 1957 in Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Grobberlaar was signed from The usa side Vancouver Whitecaps for 250,000 in March 1981 at the same time manager Bob Paisley. Within months of signing he secured a typical first team place after Liverpool goalkeeping legend Ray Clemence signed for Tottenham Hotspur.A fantastic 310 consecutive appearances for Liverpool over five seasons then followed, as it wasn't all plain sailing. Some erratic performances and errors, for Grobberlaar took at fault, saw Liverpool languishing around the mid-table of this first division and seemingly out from the title race, however a dramatic resurgence along the turn of the season saw Liverpool win the league title throughout his first season along the club, not to mention beating Tottenham around the League Cup final.The Liverpool fans soon warmed to Grobbelaar, he showed superb reflexes as being a goalkeeper coupled with great natural ability, always vocal, he displayed an ideal command of his penalty area and would often be seen berating his defenders, often described as flamboyant he has also been renowned for his eccentric moments, punching the ball when it could possibly easily have been completely caught, or catching the ball with just one hand in place of two. He was renowned for his long throws and dribbling the ball in the pitch or even just accumulating the pitch to contest a header in the center circle. Heart stopping 1 minute, and making breath taking saves next, however at all times keep everyone else on their toes, in addition to entertained the fans by doing handstands on your pitch although ball is at play.One among Bruce Grobbelaar's most famous moments was all through the 1984 European Cup final penalty shoot-out he wobbled his legs in 'mock terror' before the penalty kicks were taken, many believe this made a couple of the Milan players totally miss their penalty kicks, as Liverpool happened to win the trophy.When Liverpool signed David James, there seemed to be greater competition for ones goalkeepers jersey, and after two very competitive seasons, in 1994 Bruce Grobbelaar finally left Liverpool after making 628 appearances to the club, for whatever reason, when called he'll do not be forgotten.
No comments:
Post a Comment