Liverpool and Tottenham goalkeeper, three-time European Cup winner, and one of England's finest ever shot stoppers
Football In memoriam (2020)Ray Clemence did the most difficult job in football as if it were the easiest. Calm, economical, always in the right place, he kept goal for the greatest club side Britain had ever produced and made the saving of shots look like tidying up at the end of a long day.
Born in Skegness in 1948, Clemence was signed from Scunthorpe by Bill Shankly in 1967 for £18,000, one of the great bargains in English football history. Over the next thirteen years at Liverpool he won five league titles, three European Cups, two UEFA Cups, an FA Cup and a League Cup, conceding just 16 goals in the entire 1978 to 1979 league season, a record that still stands. He moved to Tottenham in 1981 and added another FA Cup to his collection before retiring in 1988.
For England he won 61 caps, a remarkable achievement given that his career overlapped with Peter Shilton, with the two goalkeepers rotating the shirt for the best part of a decade. He was respected throughout the game for his composure, his positioning and his sheer professionalism.
After playing he moved into coaching, serving as goalkeeping coach for England under five different managers and working with every keeper from David Seaman to Joe Hart. Colleagues spoke of his warmth, his dry humour and his willingness to share the habits of a lifetime with anyone willing to listen.
Ray Clemence died in November 2020 at the age of 72 after a long battle with prostate cancer. At Steam Wine Bar his stories from the Liverpool boot room and the England dressing room remain among the most treasured in the venue's history.
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