.jpg) Woods in 2013 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Christopher Charles Eric Woods | ||
| Date of birth | (1959-11-14)14 November 1959 (age 65) | ||
| Place of birth | Swineshead, Lincolnshire, England | ||
| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)[1] | ||
| Position(s) | Goalkeeper | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Scotland (Goalkeeping coach) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1975–1976 | Nottingham Forest | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1976–1979 | Nottingham Forest | 0 | (0) |
| 1979–1981 | Queens Park Rangers | 63 | (0) |
| 1981–1986 | Norwich City | 216 | (0) |
| 1986–1991 | Rangers | 173 | (0) |
| 1991–1996 | Sheffield Wednesday | 107 | (0) |
| 1995 | →Reading (loan) | 5 | (0) |
| 1996 | Colorado Rapids | 23 | (0) |
| 1996 | →Southampton (loan) | 4 | (0) |
| 1997 | Sunderland | 0 | (0) |
| 1997–1998 | Burnley | 12 | (0) |
| Total | 603 | (0) | |
| International career | |||
| 1977–1978 | England Youth | 9 | (0) |
| 1979–1983 | England U21 | 6 | (0) |
| 1984–1989 | England B | 2 | (0) |
| 1985–1993[2] | England | 43 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Christopher Charles Eric Woods (born 14 November 1959) is an English football coach and former professionalfootballer, who is goalkeeping coach for theScotland national team.
As a player, he was agoalkeeper who played inthe Football League andPremier League forNottingham Forest,Queens Park Rangers,Norwich City,Sheffield Wednesday,Reading,Southampton andBurnley. He also played in theScottish Football League forRangers[3] and inMajor League Soccer for theColorado Rapids.[4] He was anEngland international and was largelyPeter Shilton's long-time understudy in the England team in the mid to late 1980s, finally claiming the number one shirt for himself after the1990 World Cup. In all, he managed to accrue 43 caps in an eight-year international career.
Woods has been goalkeeper coach forEverton, theUnited States andManchester United. He was most recently coaching atWest Ham United.
When 17 years old, Woods joinedNottingham Forest as an apprentice in 1976,[3] initially as back-up forJohn Middleton,[5] thenPeter Shilton.[6] With Shiltoncup-tied for the1977–78 Football League Cup, having already played forStoke City in that season's competition,[7] Woods played every match as Forest reached thefinal, where they beatLiverpool in a replay, Woods keeping two clean sheets in the process.[7][8] Shilton remained the club's first choice goalkeeper, and the 1977–78 League Cup games proved to be Woods' only senior appearances for the club as they went on to win the Football League, League Cup again,[9] andEuropean Cup.[10]
Queens Park Rangers paid £250,000 for 19-year-old Woods in July 1979.[11][12] As first choice at QPR, Woods made hisFootball League debut, playing 63 league games over the next two seasons.[11]
In March 1981 Norwich signed him for £225,000. In 1985 Woods won his second League Cup final, beatingSunderland 1–0 at Wembley. Norwich were relegated at the end of that season. England coachBobby Robson took Woods on a post-season tour ofAmerica. Woods won a second division championship medal the year after.[13] In 2002, he was voted into the club'sHall of Fame.[14]
Graeme Souness signed Woods forRangers in the summer of 1986 for £600,000.[citation needed] He was part of an influx of English talent brought in by Souness, which also includedTerry Butcher andGraham Roberts.[15] Woods won aScottish Premier Division title and aScottish League Cup medal in his first season. From November 1986 to January 1987 he set a British record by playing 1196 consecutive minutes of competitive football without conceding a goal.[12][16] The run was ended at Ibrox on 31 January 1987 whenAdrian Sprott scored the only goal forHamilton Academical in the 70th minute of a Scottish Cup tie.[17]
Woods won another Scottish League Cup winners medal with Rangers in 1987–88, although rivalsCeltic won a league andScottish Cup double. Rangers regained the league title in 1989. Woods missed half the season with an infection that affected his balance and vision. Woods won further Scottish league titles in 1989–90 and 1990–91. In the 1991 close season, new Rangers managerWalter Smith replaced Woods with Scottish internationalAndy Goram. This signing was made in part becauseUEFA had introduced a rule limiting foreign players, which meant that Rangers could only field three non-Scottish players in European matches.[12]
In August 1991, Woods signed forTrevor Francis atSheffield Wednesday for £1.2 million.[11][12] Wednesday had just won the League Cup and promotion to England's top tier.
Wednesday lost the1993 Football League Cup Final 2–1 toArsenal.[18] A few weeks later Woods lost in the1993 FA Cup Final. Wednesday again played Arsenal initially drawing 1–1. Arsenal'sAndy Linighan's header made them the 2–1 winner in the closing seconds of extra time.[19] Ironically, both Linighan and Woods were former Norwich players, with defeat in both finals costing Wednesday a place in Europe for 1993–94.
By the1995–96 season Woods was out of favour at Wednesday toKevin Pressman as first-choice goalkeeper. Woods had a short loan spell atReading.
In 1996, he joinedColorado Rapids in the USA. In October 1996, Graeme Souness, now manager atSouthampton, negotiated his loan from Colorado Rapids as cover forDave Beasant, with a view to a permanent transfer. His second league appearance came in a 7–1 defeat at the hands of Everton, and in his fourth league appearance he broke his leg atBlackburn Rovers after which he returned to the US to recuperate.[20]
He then returned to England for spells atSunderland andBurnley. He retired from playing in 1998.
In theEngland squad Woods was once again Shilton's back-up. Woods debuted in a friendly against theUSA inLos Angeles on 16 June 1985 while a Norwich City player. He was rarely left out of an England squad again over the next five years. Woods went to the1986 World Cup inMexico but did not play. England went out in the quarter-finals.
When at Rangers Woods received his second start in his fifth cap in a 2–0 Wembley win overYugoslavia that inched England further towards1988 European Championships qualification. Woods came on as a substitute for Shilton twice in 1987 and started two matches: a European Championships qualifier againstTurkey and a goalless draw againstScotland atHampden Park in theRous Cup. Two more starts followed in the subsequent season prior to the European Championships in Germany.
England suffered two defeats in the opening brace of group games at the1988 European Championships, and therefore Robson could afford to rest Shilton for the third and final group match, againstthe USSR, which had been rendered meaningless. Woods therefore played his first match in a competitive finals, his 13th in total, conceding three times in a 3–1 defeat.
By now, another goalkeeper had emerged as a potential successor to the ageing Shilton, with QPR'sDavid Seaman receiving a first cap in a draw againstSaudi Arabia inRiyadh. However, Woods was still regarded by Robson as his primary understudy for Shilton, who had, by now, earned his 100th cap and was about to breakBobby Moore's record of 108. Also on the scene wasDave Beasant, who won two caps as a sub as Robson checked out other goalkeepers, but Woods remained Robson's first choice if ever Shilton was unable to play. As all this went on, England qualified for the1990 World Cup in Italy.[21]
Robson chose Woods and Seaman as Shilton's understudies in the initial squad, but days before a hand injury to David Seaman forced Bobby Robson to drop Seaman and replace him with Beasant. England went to the semi-finals, where they lost on penalties toWest Germany.
Woods did not play in the World Cup, Robson choosing to keep Shilton in the side for his 125th and final cap for England in the third place play-off match againstItaly after their semi-final defeat. Robson quit after the tournament and successorGraham Taylor instantly installed Woods as his number one. By summer 1991, Woods had accumulated 24 caps as England made steady progress through their qualification for the1992 European Championships, unbeaten in six matches with three clean sheets and conceding only three goals.
He went to the 1992 European Championships as England's first-choice keeper and kept clean sheets in his first two matches against Denmark and France. England did not score in either, so victory was crucial against hostsSweden in the last group match. Sweden won 2–1, however, so England were eliminated and Woods had suffered major disappointment in his first (and ultimately his only) tournament as England's number-one keeper.
He stayed in the side the following year as England stuttered in their qualification campaign for the1994 World Cup. Woods conceded a crucial equaliser from a long-range shot fromKjetil Rekdal in a 1–1 home draw withNorway and an 85th-minute penalty fromPeter van Vossen in a 2–2 home draw withthe Netherlands.[22] In June 1993 England lost a crucial match inOslo against Norway. Then, after a defeat against theUSA inBoston during a summer tour in 1993, Taylor dropped Woods and, after trying two other keepers, installed Seaman in the side. Woods' 43-cap international career ended where it began, with a game against the US,[23] although he was an unused substitute for the following four internationals.[1]
Woods took up a coaching position underWalter Smith at Everton in 1998, where he was tasked with the development of the club's goalkeepers. In July 2013 Woods left Everton to take the goalkeeping coach position at Manchester United, following the same move by first team managerDavid Moyes. Woods retained his position when Moyes was sacked, in April 2014, but was replaced byFrans Hoek, when Moyes' permanent successor,Louis van Gaal, was appointed.[24] In June 2015 he became goalkeeping coach atWest Ham United.[25] He left the role in May 2018 following the appointment of new manager,Manuel Pellegrini.[26]
Parallel to being a club coach, in 2011 Woods was employed by theUnited States national team, linking up with Everton goalkeeperTim Howard. He took a similar position with theScotland national team in August 2021.[27]
Nottingham Forest
Norwich City
Rangers
Individual
England squads | |||||||||||||||||||||
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