Good thread.
In my time following Albion we have had more poor keepers than good ones.
Dick Sheppard fortunately didn't make many appearances for us, but i still get cold shudders when i think of him. The stuff of nightmares.
Jim Cumbes was 6' 4" and thirty yard shots used to go over his head. At Molineux Wolves scored direct from a corner past him. I will never know how he managed to catch a cricket ball. We were outside the ground at Stoke and my cousin asked him for his autograph, adding, don't drop the pen. Cumbes laughed so he had a sense of humour going for him.
Don Howe signed Graham Smith after seeing him play a blinder for Colchester in the Cup on MOTD. In his first two games for us he conceded 6 goals, he didn't look tall enough to reach the crossbar.
Scott Carson and Zuberbular. Carson was a Jonah. He would see a shot coming, think this is going in, he would dive full length and tip it onto the post or the bar, it would rebound off the back of his head and go in.
Zubi would see a shop coming, he would think, this is going wide. He would watch the ball hit the post or the bar and it would rebound into his hands.
Both of them were heart attack material.
The worst performances i have seen from an Albion keeper in a single game are, Sheppard at Coventry lost 2-4, Crichton at Molineux, lost 2-0, and Fulop v Arsenal, lot 2-3 after leading 2-0.
I first saw Godden away at Ashton Gate in 1977, the ball was bouncing all around the box and he was rooted to his line. I thought who the eff is this? We did manage to get a 2-1 win however. Not the worst keeper we have had but far from the best. Brilliant reflexes, but never commanded his box and stayed on his line. The 78 team needed a Shilton or a Clemence in goal, then it would have been great.
Osborne is far and away the best keeper i have seen at Albion, brave to the point of foolhardy, total command of crosses, not just the six yard box but the 18 yard box. Brilliant reflexes, intelligent, funny, and a great showman we will never see his like again. If we were winning comfortably he would take a throw in, or dribble the ball up the pitch, he was capped as a half back as a schoolboy. One game we had a corner and i looked back at our goalmouth, he was nowhere to be seen, the goals were wide open. Then i saw him sitting on the wall talking to the kids. When i think about te showmen we had in the 60's and 70's it makes my heart race.
Russell Hoult was the nearest i have seen to Ossie in football terms, but he was the total opposite in personality, grey, zero charisma, as interesting as an iceberg lettuce. I do think Houlty was one of the best keepers in the country at his peak.
Foster was another good keeper and as pointed out worth 10 points to us over a season, but he had lapses in concentration and his kicking was poor.
Too early to mention Johnstone yet one way or another, but needs to up his game and concentration.
