 Goram in 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Andrew Lewis Goram[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1964-04-13)13 April 1964 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Bury, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 2 July 2022(2022-07-02) (aged 58) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Goalkeeper | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| West Bromwich Albion | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1981–1987 | Oldham Athletic | 195 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1987–1991 | Hibernian | 138 | (1) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1991–1998 | Rangers | 184 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1998 | Notts County | 1 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1998 | Sheffield United | 7 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1998–2001 | Motherwell | 57 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2001 | →Manchester United (loan) | 2 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2001 | Hamilton Academical | 1 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2001–2002 | Coventry City | 7 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2002 | Oldham Athletic | 4 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2002–2003 | Queen of the South | 19 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2003–2004 | Elgin City | 5 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 620 | (1) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1985–1998 | Scotland | 43 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1986[3] | Scotland U21 | 1 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1990[4] | SFA (SFL centenary) | 1 | (0) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Andrew Lewis Goram (13 April 1964 – 2 July 2022) was a Scottishfootballer who played as agoalkeeper. Born inBury, Lancashire, England, he started his career withOldham Athletic andHibernian, but he is best remembered for playing forRangers during the 1990s, when he earned the nickname "The Goalie". In a 2001 poll of Rangers fans, Goram was voted Rangers' greatest-ever goalkeeper.[5]
Goram appeared in 43 international matches forScotland and was selected for their squads at the1986 and1990 World Cups,UEFA Euro 1992 andUEFA Euro 1996.
After his time with Rangers, Goram played for many clubs, most notably atMotherwell and a brief loan spell atManchester United. He also representedScotland atcricket,[6][7] and was one of only four men to play internationally for Scotland in both football and cricket.[8]
After retirement from playing, he went on to become a goalkeeping coach at numerous Scottish clubs.
Goram began his career atWest Bromwich Albion but was released as a teenager.[9] He then joinedOldham Athletic in 1981 and spent nearly seven years with the club, making 195Football League appearances.[10] His performances saw him voted into thePFA Team of the Year for the English Second Division in 1986–87.[11]
In 1987, he returned to Scotland, joiningHibernian for a fee of£325,000. His father had also briefly been a goalkeeper with the Edinburgh club.[10] He made his debut for Hibs on 10 October 1987, keeping aclean sheet in a 4–0 win overDunfermline Athletic.[12] He served as club captain for the majority of his stay in the capital, and in 1988 achieved the unusual feat of scoring a goal in aPremier Division match, againstMorton, with a long kick.[13] He also scored again in a penalty shoot-out after a goalless draw againstClydebank in a League Cup tie in August 1989, Hibs winning 5–3.[14] A save he made in a European tie againstRFC Liège was described byLou Macari as having "defied logic". Goram twisted in mid air to touch a header fromAngelo Nijskens away for a corner kick.[15]
In a BBC podcast, "Remembering Andy Goram", he said of his time at Hibs, "Everybody associates me with Rangers because of my time there, but I had four fantastic years with Hibs. My Dad played for Hibs and I've a great affinity for them."[16]
In the summer of 1991, Goram signed for Rangers in a £1 million transfer deal.[17] He made his debut in a 6–0 win overSt Johnstone on the opening day of the season. Having replacedChris Woods, Goram found himself under scrutiny in his first few months, and was criticised for goals conceded againstHearts andSparta Prague which some regarded as being "soft".[17]
Goram soon settled at Ibrox and established himself by playing in all 55 of Rangers competitive games and keeping 26 clean sheets during his first season there. He helped Rangers win the1991–92 Scottish Premier Division title.[17] He also helped them win the Scottish Cup for the first time in several years, defeatingAirdrie 2–1 in the final to clinch a league and cup double.[17][18]
The following season, 1992–93, saw Rangers take part in the newly revampedUEFA Champions League. Goram played in all ten of their European fixtures that season, conceding seven goals.[19] These games included home-and-away wins overLeeds United and an unbeaten run that saw the club narrowly miss out on a place in thefinal.[19] Rangers swept to a domestic treble that season, winning their fifth-consecutive league title and defeatingAberdeen in both the League Cup and Scottish Cup finals.[19] Goram won both theScottish Football Writers andScottish Professional Footballers Association player of the year awards.[17]
Goram underwent knee surgery in the summer of 1993 and missed most of the following season whilst recovering, making ten appearances.[17] He was placed on the transfer list by managerWalter Smith in the summer of 1994;[10][17][20] however, he was allowed to remain at Rangers when he proved his fitness and commitment during pre-season training, and he returned as first-choice goalkeeper for season 1994–95.[17] He continued to excel in goal for Rangers, with Celtic managerTommy Burns lamenting in January 1996, "If anyone gets round to doing my tombstone, it will have to read:Andy Goram Broke My Heart."[21] Goram went on to win a further three league titles, a Scottish Cup and a Scottish League Cup in his time at Rangers.[17]
After it was reported in the press that Goram had a mild form ofschizophrenia, he was greeted with the chant of "Two Andy Gorams, there's only two Andy Gorams"[22] (based on thecommon misconception that schizophrenia anddissociative identity disorder are the same condition). This chant quickly gained popularity, and became the title of a book documenting humorousfootball chants.[23] Goram left Rangers at the end of season 1997–98.
Goram had brief spells atNotts County andSheffield United before signing for Motherwell in January 1999.[24] In 2000, he helped Motherwell to fourth place in the league.[25]
He had a loan spell withManchester United during their2000–01 title run-in,[26] playing in two games.[27] In the summer of 2001, he had a spell on trial withHamilton Academical,[28] then signed forCoventry City and made seven appearances.[29]
In July 2002, Goram signed forQueen of the South,[30] with whom he won theScottish Challenge Cup. This made Goram the first player to collect a full set of winners' medals from the four Scottish football competitions.[31][32][33][34] A four-game return to Oldham Athletic followed, and he retired at the end of the2003–04 season after a season-long spell atElgin City, for whom he played five league games.[35]
In 2010, Goram was inducted into theScottish Football Hall of Fame.[36]
Goram's first involvement in international football was in 1983, whenHoward Wilkinson named him in anEngland under-21 squad; however, despite his club form at Oldham, Wilkinson had doubts about his relative lack of height and instead playedAlan Knight in goal. As such, Goram remained eligible to play for Scotland.[37]
In October 1985, Scotland caretaker managerAlex Ferguson named Goram in his squad for a friendly match againstEast Germany atHampden Park. He made his debut in that game on 16 October 1985, coming on in the second half as a substitute forJim Leighton.[38] In the run-up to the1986 FIFA World Cup, Goram played the full 90 minutes in friendly matches againstRomania and theNetherlands, keeping clean sheets in both games.[39] He travelled to Mexico in the summer of 1986 as a member of Scotland's World Cup squad, although he was third choice behind Leighton andAlan Rough and did not play in any of Scotland's three games.[31]
Leighton remained first-choice goalkeeper for Scotland in their qualifying campaigns forEuro 1988 and the1990 FIFA World Cup, with Goram as his understudy. Goram played one competitive game during this time: a 1–1 home draw againstYugoslavia in October 1988 during the qualifiers for the 1990 World Cup.[39] He did play in several friendly matches,[39] and was in the Scotland squad that took part in the 1990 World Cup in Italy, although once again he did not actually play in games there.[31][39]
After the 1990 World Cup, Goram established himself as Scotland's first-choice goalkeeper. He played in all eight of Scotland's qualifying ties forEuro 1992, helping them qualify for the finals of the tournament held inSweden.[39] Scotland lost in their first two group matches to the Netherlands andGermany but won their final match, against theCIS (former Soviet Union), 3–0.[31][39]
Scotland failed to build on their showing at Euro 1992 in the qualifiers for the1994 World Cup. A campaign, which included a 5–0 defeat away againstPortugal in April 1993, saw Scotland slump to fourth place in their group and fail to qualify.[39][40] The match against Portugal was Goram's last Scotland appearance for almost a year due to his undergoing knee surgery and a lengthy return to fitness.[17][39] He returned to the side in March 1994, playing in a friendly against the Netherlands, and played in a 2–0 win away againstFinland on 7 September 1994 in the opening qualifying tie forEuro 1996.[39] Goram kept his place in the side and played in Scotland's next three qualifying ties;[39] however, in August 1995, days before a qualifying match againstGreece, Goram withdrew from the squad stating that he was not "mentally attuned" to play.[41] Jim Leighton played against Greece and kept his place in the team for the remaining two qualifying matches, although Goram did play for the last 17 minutes of a friendly match againstSweden in between those final two ties.[42]
Goram had a long-running rivalry with Leighton for the goalkeeping position in the Scotland team.Craig Brown controversially selected Goram ahead of his counterpart for Scotland's matches in Euro 96, despite the fact that Leighton had played in most of the qualifiers. In their final game againstSwitzerland, Goram was required to make several important saves, notably when he clawed away a header fromKubilay Turkyilmaz in the final ten minutes.[43] Brown then selected Leighton forFrance 98 which prompted Goram to walk out of the squad completely,[44] fifteen days before Scotland were scheduled to playBrazil in the opening game of the tournament.[31]
Goram also worked as a goalkeeping coach with various clubs after retiring from playing. He took on part-time coaching duties when he returned to Motherwell in 2002.[45] He later coached atDundee in 2005,[46]Airdrie United in March 2006 and thenClyde in February 2008.[47] He left Clyde in September 2008.[48] In January 2012, Goram helped Hamilton Academical with their goalkeeping coach crisis.[49] In January 2014, he took up the role of goalkeeping coach in the coaching staff atAyr United,[50][51] joining up again with godsonDavid Hutton, as he did at Clyde and Hamilton.
In October 2014, he became goalkeeping coach atLowland League sideBSC Glasgow.[52][53] He returned to professional football in January 2015, when he was appointed goalkeeping coach atDunfermline Athletic,[54] until May 2015 when he left the position.[55] He later had a spell atAirdrieonians as goalkeeping coach from May 2016 until October 2016, leaving the club following a spate of managerial and coaching changes.[56][57]
His last club wasWest of Scotland Football League clubCambuslang Rangers.[58]
Goram was also a leaguecricketer, appearing as awicket-keeper and batsman for variousOldham clubs in theSaddleworth League, including Delph & Dobcross, Moorside and East Lancashire Paper Mill inRadcliffe,Bury. Goram played for Penicuik, Kelso, West Lothian and Uddingston in Scottish cricket leagues. He representedScotland four times: twice (1989 and 1991) in the annualfirst-class game againstIreland and twice (again in 1989 and 1991) in theNatWest Trophy.[59][60] He was one of only four people to have played in a first-class cricket match and a full international football match for Scotland & the most recent.[61]
A left-handed batsman and right-arm medium-pace bowler, his most significant act was probably to clean bowlEnglandTest playerRichard Blakey in aNatWest Trophy game againstYorkshire in 1989.Rangers manager Walter Smith effectively ended Goram's cricket career when he ordered him to concentrate on his football career.[61]
Goram made a cricketing comeback after ending his football career, finally playing forFreuchie Cricket Club in their centenary week matches versus Cricket Scotland President's XI, Falkland Cricket Club and Sussex Ladies.[6][62][63] In May 2016, Goram played for a Scotland over-50s team against Lancashire over-50s.[64]
Goram was born on 13 April 1964[65] and raised in England, although he was brought up self-identifying asScottish.[66] He was the son of Edinburgh-bornLewis Goram, who had played professionally in goal[65] in the 1940s and 1950s forLeith Athletic,Hibernian,Third Lanark andBury.[67]
Goram was accused in the late 1990s of having sympathies withUlster loyalists during his regular visits toBelfast. His ex-wife Tracey accused him of collecting loyalist memorabilia and associating with theUlster Volunteer Force. He denied the accusations, said that he supported theNorthern Ireland peace process and threatened to sue his accusers.[68][69][70] He was accused of associations with the loyalistBilly Wright and of wearing ablack armband whilst playing against Celtic four days after Wright's murder; he said that the armband was in memory of an aunt who died four months earlier.[69][71][72] In September 2007, Goram was assaulted at a fundraising dinner by a man who accused him ofsectarianism; he condemned sectarianism and said he was "sick of being called a bigot for no reason".[73]
On 30 May 2022, it was announced that Goram had been diagnosed with terminaloesophageal cancer and had been told he had six months to live.[74] He died on 2 July 2022, aged 58.[58] On 29 August 2022, the league game between Hibs and Rangers at Easter Road was preceded by a minute's applause for Goram and his picture was shown on big screens.[75]
Rangers
Queen of the South
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