Ray Clemence

At 72 years old, Ray Clemence has this physical status:

Raymond Neal "Ray" Clemence, born 5 August 1948, is a retired England international football goalkeeper who played for England in the 1970s and was a member of the Liverpool team.

He is one of just 25 players to have made over 1,000 career appearances.

He currently serves as the Head of the England Youth Team, overseeing the growth of players in the England Youth teams from under the age of 16 to 21, having previously served as part of the England Senior team back room staff.

Personal life and death

In the 1987 Birthday Honours for services to football, Clemence was named an MBE. Stephen's uncle, Stephen, came up through the ranks at Spurs and Birmingham City before retiring in 2010 after being injured from Leicester City. He was the Newcastle United's first team coach under Steve Bruce. Sarah Freedman, the daughter of former Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest manager and Scotland striker Dougie Freedman, has ties in football.

Clemence revealed in February 2005 that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and that he would spend time away from the England squad while waiting for surgery. Brian Kidd was the second member of Eriksson's staff to be diagnosed with prostate cancer, and he died before Euro 2004.

Both Liverpool and Tottenham supporters have a high regard for Clemence. He was voted in at No. 1 by the time. 118 players Who Shook The Kop was also the highest-placed goalkeeper, according to a survey conducted by the Liverpool Football Club Web site. He was also selected as the goalkeeper in the BBC's Merseyside team of the 20th century and ranked first in Total Football's poll of the best ever goalkeeper, defeating players of the calibre of Peter Shilton, Lev Yashin, Gordon Banks, and Pat Jennings.

After 15 years of prostate cancer, Clemence died on November 15, 2020. He was 72.

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Club career

Born in Skegness, Lincolnshire, Clemence, Clemence, played eight games on trial for Notts County but was not signed by the Meadow Lane club. When he wasn't playing in a county-cup final at his local youth club Skegness Cosmos, he was spotted by Scunthorpe United. Clemence was invited for formal trials with "The Iron," which he duly passed after playing in the Cosmos' 4-3 victory. On his 17th birthday, he signed professional terms for Scunthorpe, a few months before Scunthorpe's 1965–66 Third Division campaign began.

Despite being a member of the club's "third team," Clemence's big break came later in his debut season, earning his first professional debut in a 1-1 draw at home to Swansea Town on April 2nd, 1966. Clemence's first appearance at the University of Scunthorpe's: "Jack Brownsword and Alan Bushby pulled me aside, gave me a pep talk and told me they could play for England for one day, but "you have to work at it."

In a 1-0 victory over Southend United, Clemence continued to make four appearances in total during his debut season, including his first professional clean sheet. Clemence later cited Sidebottom as a vital early mentor after spending a lot of time undercover with the veteran Wolverhampton Wanderers and Aston Villa custodian Geoff Sidebottom, who cited him as a key early mentor." Because 'keepers were a lot less covered then,' he taught me how to look after myself.

Clemence lived with Mrs Ruby Duce of King Edward Street in Scunthorpe during his time with the club, and in the same digs that would soon be occupied by Ray's future England and Liverpool teammate Kevin Keegan after Clemence's departure to Liverpool.

Clemence's undisputed first-choice goalkeeper in Scunthorpe's disappointing 18th appearance after being reintroduced to the team after losing their first three games in all competitions. Clemence spent the latter half of his season under new York Generals boss and ex-Busby Goodwin, who would later sign the player for Tottenham Hotspurs.

And with Clemence's fear that a humiliating 7-1 loss away to arch-rival Grimsby Town might have ended his career, Scunthorpe's faith in him never wavered, and the second game in his second game in a row of 46 consecutive games.

Throughout the season, Clemence's figures increased to 50 appearances and 12 clean sheets in all Scunthorpe tournaments; but Bill Shankly and his coaching staff had him scouted in 12 games. This came to an end later this summer, when Clemence was compelled to leave a beachside deckchair-stacking shift early due to the news that an urgent telegram waited for him at home. This was because Liverpool's request for the now 18-year-old shot-stopper had been accepted, and Scunthorpe chairman John Scunthorpe personally drove Clemence to Anfield in his Rolls Royce the next morning.

Clemence recalled Scunthorpe United's time as a fan of the club: "This is a club I am proud to be associated with." It was like being a member of a family when I was there.

Bill Shankly, the manager of Liverpool, was released Clemence on June 24, 1967 from Scunthorpe United for £18,000. In a League Cup third round tie at Anfield on September 25, 1968, Swansea Town were the visitors and were defeated 2–0. He made his debut and maintained his first clean sheet. He was nurtured by the reserve team over the next two years, with occasional senior appearances until 1970, when he became the club's first choice goalkeeper.

Liverpool defeated Liverpool in the FA Cup Final in 1971, where Clemence played well, but Arsenal won the game 2–1. There will be joy for Clemence two seasons ago, when Liverpool lifted both the League and UEFA Cup, with Clemence winning both the League and UEFA Cup, with Clemence saving a penalty against Borussia Mönchengladbach in the final of the latter. Liverpool took a 3–0 lead to Germany with them rather than 3–1. Gladbach defeated 2–0 at home, with Jupp Heynckes scoring the penalty and then tied 3–3 on aggregate, with Borussia Mönchengladbach winning on the away goals rule. Liverpool won the FA Cup for the second time in 74 years with a convincing 3–0 win over Newcastle United.

Liverpool won another League and UEFA Cup double in 1976 and then went on to win a rare treble a year later. They won the League title in the first leg, but they lost the FA Cup final 2-1 to rivals Manchester United. Liverpool won the European Cup for the first time in Rome a few days later, defeating Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-1. Clemence made a spectacular save against Uli Stielike in the second half, when the score was 1–1.

Liverpool won by a narrow 1–0 victory over Club Brugge at Wembley Stadium in 1978, but they lost their League title to Nottingham Forest, whom they also lost in the League Cup final. Clemence kept goal in 1979 and 1980 as Liverpool clinched the League championship in each season. Clemence won the 1978-1979 League, scoring only 16 goals in the 42 league games (and just 4 at Anfield). This remarkable run runs through a 42-match season and went unbeaten by Chelsea in the 2004–05 season, conceding 15 goals in 38 League matches.

Liverpool won the League Cup for the third time in 1981, and the latter took the European Cup for the third time, beating Real Madrid 11-0 in a dour competition at the Parc des Princes on May 27. It was Clemence's last game for the club.

Bruce Grobbelaar's return to Clemence put the team's place in the league under scrutiny for the first time in ten years (during which time he played in more than 650 games and missed just six), and he moved from Liverpool to Tottenham Hotspur for £300,000.

Clemence left Liverpool in 1981 to join Tottenham Hotspur for a £300,000. Liverpool defeated 3–1 in the 1982 League Cup final, which was the 1982 League Cup final. Spurs did win the 1982 FA Cup, beating QPR 1–0 after a replay.

In 1981, Clemence's first Tottenham appearance against Aston Villa at Wembley Stadium, where Mark Falco and Peter Withe scored twice in an exciting 2–2 draw. Spurs beat Middlesbrough 3-1 on Monday on their first appearance in League, a week later. In the 1–0 victory, he kept Wolverhampton Wanderers off the scoresheet for three games later on September 12th.

In 1984, Spurs defeated the UEFA Cup for the first time. Clemence missed the final against Anderlecht due to injury, but the replacement goalkeeper was on the bench in a match that was obviously won when Tony Parks saved twice during the penalty shootout. Clemence defeated Coventry City in the FA Cup final in 1987, when Spurs lost to Coventry City. He is one of a select group of players to have appeared in five or more FA Cup finals. In Tottenham's away match against Norwich in October 1987, Clemence sustained an Achilles tendon injury, which caused his suspension from playing in 1988. Clemence's teaching staff were hired shortly after he had resigned.

International career

Clemence was a fixture for England between 1972 and 1983, winning by 1–0 World Cup qualifier over Wales at Ninian Park on November 15, 1972. In 1974 and 1978, England failed to qualify for World Cups. Clemence was a member of the squad that qualified for Euro 1980, but the team failed to qualify from Group 2 for the first time. He was in the squad that qualified for the World Cup in 1982, but England did not progress beyond the quarter-final stage.

Clemence captained England once more, becoming the first keeper to do so since Frank Swift. The game in question was a friendly with Brazil, but Clemence was unable to prevent the Brazilians from scoring as England lost 1–0.

With 61 England caps in a 12-year international career, Clemence was forced to return from international football due to a left knee injury to his left knee. Peter Shilton, England's second goalkeeper, made it difficult for the England team to decide which keeper was the best, causing them to change their picks. Shilton was the first choice keeper for the remainder of the 1980s, winning two more World Cups and winning a record 125 caps.

Coaching career

Clemence retired in 1988 and joined Spurs' coaching staff, progressing to the first team before moving to Barnet's joint manager, Gary Phillips, in January 1994. He was in charge of Barnet's ninth and 13th divisions in Division 3 at the start of the 1994–95 season.

In August 1996, he was recruited by his former Spurs and England colleague Glenn Hoddle as the England team's goalkeeping coach, a position he continued to hold under Hoddle's successors Kevin Keegan and Sven-Göran Eriksson. He stayed in that position under Steve McClaren until being replaced by Italian Franco Tancredi as goalkeeping coach in December 2007, as Fabio Capello took over the national team. However, Clemence was still part of the England backroom staff, and when Roy Hodgson took over as boss, he restored Clemence to the Goalkeeper coach position. During England's warm-ups for their game against France in Euro 2012, he snapped his Achilles tendon.

He was the F.A.'s chief. Head of Development Team, where his job was to control the England under 16s, 17s, 18s, 19s, and 20 teams, as well as England U21 coach Stuart Pearce in monitoring the players' progress to the U21 team. He has appeared on television and radio as a pundit, as well as discussing recent goalkeeping news in football.

Despite his last appearance at an international level being 30 years ago, Clemence retired in 2013 being "lavishly lauded" and receiving a gift from the England national team.

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