.jpg) Clemence withTottenham Hotspur in 1981 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Raymond Neal Clemence[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1948-08-05)5 August 1948[2] | ||
| Place of birth | Skegness,Lincolnshire, England[2] | ||
| Date of death | 15 November 2020(2020-11-15) (aged 72) | ||
| Place of death | Corby,Northamptonshire, England | ||
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[3] | ||
| Position(s) | Goalkeeper | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Notts County | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1965–1967 | Scunthorpe United | 48 | (0) |
| 1967–1981 | Liverpool | 470 | (0) |
| 1981–1988 | Tottenham Hotspur | 240 | (0) |
| Total | 758 | (0) | |
| International career | |||
| 1967–1971 | England U23 | 4 | (0) |
| 1972–1983 | England | 61 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1992–1993 | Tottenham Hotspur (joint manager) | ||
| 1994–1996 | Barnet | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Raymond Neal ClemenceMBE (5 August 1948 – 15 November 2020)[4] was an English professionalfootballer who played as agoalkeeper. Regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he is one of few players to have made over1,000 career appearances,[5][6][7] and holds the record for the most clean sheets in the history of football (460).[8]
As part of theLiverpool team of the 1970s,[9] Clemence won threeEuropean Cups, fiveLeague titles, twoUEFA Cups, aEuropean Super Cup, anFA Cup and aLeague Cup; the last of his 665 appearances for the club was the victorious1981 European Cup final.[10] In 1981, after being phased out at Liverpool, Clemence joinedTottenham Hotspur, winning a UEFA Cup, an FA Cup, and a Charity Shield with them, before retiring from football in 1988. Clemence played internationally forEngland from 1972 to 1983, and represented the country atUEFA Euro 1980 and the1982 FIFA World Cup.
After brief spells as joint-manager at Tottenham (alongsideDoug Livermore) and sole manager atBarnet in the first half of the 90s, he acted as head of the FA Development Team, overseeing the development made by players in the England youth teams from under-16 to 21 level, having previously been part of the England senior team's backroom staff.[2]
Born inSkegness, Lincolnshire, Clemence played eight matches on trial forNotts County, but was ultimately not signed by theMeadow Lane club.[11] He was spotted byScunthorpe United whilst playing in a county-cup final at theirOld Showground ground for his local youth club Skegness Cosmos. After starring in the Cosmos' 4-3 victory,[12] Clemence was invited for formal trials withThe Iron, which he duly passed.[13] Clemence went on to sign professional terms for Scunthorpe on his 17th birthday, 5 August 1965, shortly before the start of Scunthorpe's1965–66Third Division campaign.[13]
Despite initially playing in the club's 'third team',[14] Clemence's big break arrived later in his debut season – making his professional debut in a 1–1 draw at home toSwansea Town on 2 April 1966. Prior to this debut, Clemence remembers a key behind-the-scenes intervention from two Scunthorpe coaches: "Jack Brownsword and Alan Bushby pulled me aside, gave me a pep talk and told me they thought I could play for England one day but 'you've got to work at it'".[14]
Clemence went on to make four appearances in total throughout his debut season,[15] including earning his first professional clean sheet in a 1–0 victory away atSouthend United.[16] Having spent much of that season as understudy to the experienced formerWolverhampton Wanderers andAston Villa custodianGeoff Sidebottom, Clemence later cited Sidebottom as a crucial early mentor: "I learned a lot from Geoff. He taught me how to look after myself because 'keepers were a lot less protected then."[17]
During his time at the club, Clemence lived with Mrs Ruby Duce of King Edward Street inScunthorpe; in the very same digs which would then immediately be occupied by his future England and Liverpool teammateKevin Keegan following Clemence's departure to Liverpool.[18]
After being reintroduced to the side after they had lost their opening three games in all competitions,[15] Clemence became Scunthorpe's undisputed first-choice goalkeeper in their following1966–67Third Division campaign,[15] in which they finished a disappointing 18th.[19] After manager and ex-Busby BabeFreddie Goodwin departed mid-season for theNew York Generals in the nascentNorth American Soccer League, Clemence spent the latter half of his season under the guidance of caretaker player-managerKeith Burkinshaw, who would later also sign the player forTottenham Hotspur.
And despite Clemence himself worrying that a humiliating 7–1 defeat away to arch-rivalsGrimsby Town could end his professional career,[20] Scunthorpe's faith in him never waivered and this defeat proved to be the second game in a run of 46 consecutive starts he made to see out all of Scunthorpe's remaining league and cup matches.[15]
This run took Clemence's figures to 50 appearances and 12 clean sheets in all competitions for Scunthorpe;[16] but unbeknownst to him, he had been scouted in 12 games by legendary Liverpool managerBill Shankly and his coaching staff.[21] This came to fruition later that summer, when Clemence was forced to leave a beachside deckchair-stacking shift early, with the news that an urgent telegram awaited him at home.[16] This was because Liverpool's bid for the now 18-year-old shot-stopper had been accepted, and the Scunthorpe chairman personally drove Clemence to Anfield in his Rolls-Royce the next morning.
Looking back on his time with the club, Clemence fondly recalled how Scunthorpe United was: "A club I'm proud to be associated with. While I was there it was like being part of a family.[14]
Clemence was signed by Liverpool managerBill Shankly on 24 June 1967 from Scunthorpe United for a fee of £18,000.[22][23] He made his debut and kept his first clean sheet in aLeague Cup third round tie atAnfield on 25 September 1968,[24][25][26]Swansea Town were the visitors and were beaten 2–0.[27] He was nurtured through the reserve side over the next two years, with the occasional senior appearance, until 1970, at which point he became the club's first choice goalkeeper.
In 1971, Liverpool reached theFA Cup final, where Clemence played well butArsenal scored twice in extra time to overcome Liverpool's lead and win the game 2–1.[28] There would be joy for Clemence two seasons later in 1973, when Liverpool won both theLeague title andUEFA Cup, with Clemence saving a penalty fromJupp Heynckes in thefinal of the latter againstBorussia Mönchengladbach. The penalty save meant that Liverpool took a 3–0 lead to Germany with them, rather than 3–1. Gladbach went on to win 2–0 in the second-leg; had Heynckes scored the penalty, then with the same second-leg result the tie would have finished 3–3 on aggregate, Gladbach would have won on the away goals rule. The1973–74 season saw Liverpool claim yet more silverware winning theFA Cup with a comprehensive 3–0 victory overNewcastle United.
Liverpool won another League and UEFA Cup double in 1976 and then made a bid for a unique treble a year later. They achieved the first leg when they won the League title, but lost theFA Cup final 2–1 to rivalsManchester United. A few days later, Liverpool won theEuropean Cup for the first time in Rome, defeating Borussia Mönchengladbach 3–1. In the second half Clemence made a magnificent save againstUli Stielike when the score was 1–1.
Liverpool retained the European Cup in1978 with a narrow 1–0 win overClub Brugge at Wembley, but conceded their League title toNottingham Forest, to whom they also lost in theLeague Cup final. In 1979 and 1980, Clemence kept goal as Liverpool clinched the League title in each season. The 1978–79 League success saw Clemence set a record that was never beaten under the two points for a win system, conceding only 16 goals in the 42 league matches (and just four at Anfield).[29] This remarkable record remains for a 42-match season and endured until beaten in the 2004–05 season byChelsea, who conceded 15 goals in the 38 League matches.
In 1981, Liverpool won theLeague Cup, and for the third time theEuropean Cup, the latter with a 1–0 win overReal Madrid in a dour contest at theParc des Princes on 27 May. It turned out to be Clemence's last game for the club.
The emergence ofBruce Grobbelaar put Clemence's place in the side under threat for the first time in eleven years (during which period he played in more than 650 matches and missed a mere six), and he decided to leave Liverpool to joinTottenham Hotspur for a fee of £300,000.
Clemence left Liverpool to joinTottenham Hotspur in 1981 for a fee of £300,000.[30] The two clubs reached the1982 League Cup final, which Liverpool won 3–1. Despite this, they however, won the1982 FA Cup, defeatingQueens Park Rangers 1–0 after a replay.
Clemence's first Tottenham appearance was in the1981 FA Charity Shield againstAston Villa at Wembley on 22 August 1981, whereMark Falco andPeter Withe each scored twice in an entertaining 2–2 draw. His League debut came a week later with a winning start atAyresome Park, where they beatMiddlesbrough 3–1. His first clean sheet came three games later on 12 September atMolineux, when he keptWolverhampton Wanderers off the scoresheet in the 1–0 victory.
Tottenham won the UEFA Cup in1984. Clemence missed the final againstAnderlecht through injury, but was on the bench as substitute goalkeeper in a match famously won whenTony Parks saved twice during the penalty shootout. Clemence reached a fifth FA Cup final in1987, where his side lost toCoventry City. He is in a select group of players who have appeared in five or more FA Cup finals. Clemence sustained an Achilles tendon injury in Tottenham's away match atNorwich in October 1987, which forced his retirement from playing in 1988. Shortly after retiring, Clemence joined the Tottenham coaching staff.
Clemence was a regular forEngland between 1972 and 1983, making his debut and keeping his first clean-sheet in the 1–0World Cup qualifier win overWales atNinian Park on 15 November 1972.[31] England failed to qualify forWorld Cups in 1974 and 1978. Clemence was part of the squad that qualified forUEFA Euro 1980 but the team failed to qualify from Group 2. In 1982, he was in the squad for theWorld Cup, but again England did not progress beyond the quarter-final stage.
Clemencecaptained England once — the first keeper to do so sinceFrank Swift.[32] The game in question was a 1981 friendly withBrazil at Wembley, although Clemence couldn't prevent the Brazilians from scoring as England lost 1–0.
Because of injury to his left knee, Clemence was retired from international football with 61 England caps in a 12-year international career. The presence of another goalkeeper,Peter Shilton, meant that the England management struggled to decide which keeper was the best, and ended up alternating their selection. Shilton ended up as first choice keeper for the rest of the 1980s, playing in two more World Cups and attaining a record 125 caps.[33]
Clemence retired in 1988 and joined the coaching staff at Tottenham, working his way through to the first team, before leaving to become joint manager ofBarnet (with fellow goalkeeperGary Phillips) in January 1994. At the start of the 1994–95 season, he took sole charge leading Barnet to ninth and 13th in the Third Division.
In August 1996,[2] he was recruited by his former Spurs and England teammateGlenn Hoddle as goalkeeping coach for theEngland national team, a position he continued to hold under Hoddle's successorsKevin Keegan andSven-Göran Eriksson. He remained in that position underSteve McClaren, until he was replaced by ItalianFranco Tancredi as goalkeeping coach in December 2007, asFabio Capello took charge of the national team. Clemence, however, remained part of the England backroom staff, and whenRoy Hodgson took over as manager, he reinstated Clemence as goalkeeper coach. On 11 June 2012, he snapped his Achilles tendon during England's warmups for their game againstFrance duringUEFA Euro 2012. He was also England's Head of international teams, managing all the junior, women's and disability teams.[34]
In 2013, Clemence retired; being "lavishly saluted", and being bought a gift from the England team; despite his last appearance at an international level being 30 years earlier.[22]
Clemence was appointed anMBE in the1987 Birthday Honours for services to football.[35] His son,Stephen was a midfield player who came through the ranks atTottenham Hotspur andBirmingham City, before retiring due to injury atLeicester City in 2010. He was appointed manager ofGillingham in 2023, thenBarrow in 2024. Clemence's daughter Sarah also has footballing connections, being the wife of formerCrystal Palace andNottingham Forest manager andScotland strikerDougie Freedman. He also occasionally worked as a pundit on TV and radio, and commented on current goalkeeping stories in football.[36][37]
In February 2005, Clemence announced that he had been diagnosed withprostate cancer and that he would spend time away from the England squad whilst he received treatment. He was the second member of Eriksson's staff to be diagnosed with prostate cancer;Brian Kidd was diagnosed with the disease prior toUEFA Euro 2004. He died from prostate cancer at his home inCorby on 15 November 2020, at the age of 72.[38][39][40]
Clemence is held in high regard by both Liverpool and Tottenham fans. He was voted in at No. 11 on the Liverpool Football Club web site poll100 Players Who Shook The Kop; he was also the highest placed goalkeeper. He was also chosen as goalkeeper in theBBC's Merseyside team of the 20th century, and toppedTotal Football's poll of the best ever goalkeeper, beating players of the calibre ofPeter Shilton,Lev Yashin,Gordon Banks andPat Jennings. Shortly before his death, a mural near Anfield was created in his honour.[41][42]
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | 1972 | 1 | 0 |
| 1973 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1974 | 4 | 0 | |
| 1975 | 8 | 0 | |
| 1976 | 9 | 0 | |
| 1977 | 9 | 0 | |
| 1978 | 5 | 0 | |
| 1979 | 7 | 0 | |
| 1980 | 7 | 0 | |
| 1981 | 5 | 0 | |
| 1982 | 3 | 0 | |
| 1983 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 61 | 0 | |
Scunthorpe United
Liverpool
Tottenham Hotspur
Individual
England squads | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
