Interesting memories of Pat Jennings here https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/n...tford-career-tottenham-hotspur-arsenal-great/ Made me wonder who i rate best as a Watford goalie. ...and do you go for tehnical brilliance, how long they were with us or emotion?? We have always loved our goalies at the Vic... and there were others too Bert Slater, Andy Rankin, Dave Underwood etc.....
I think age has a lot to do with it too - as in, which era you were brought up in. We probably all have favourites from a particular era and ignore the fact that that era may have been in the lower divisions. It stands to reason that the higher the division, the better the goalkeeper... Having said that, it's still Pat Jennings for me - in his only season with us, playing behind a rather leaky defence he was the main reason we were in the promotion hunt all season. I was gobsmacked when we signed him towards the end of the previous season - had watched him play at Wembley against England in the final of the Euro U18 championship. Even though he conceded four goals, he looked a real prospect - but then, what do I know? England's goalkeeper that night was John Cowan, who had kept a clean sheet in every game they played and looked the real deal - I was even more gobsmacked when he signed for us a couple of years later. Not so much when he disappeared into obscurity not long after though...
Too young to remember Pat Jennings or Mick Walker properly. Andy Rankin was my favourite as a boy. Never really a Steve Sherwood fan in these polls but he was the first player I met one afternoon, he stopped to talk so he will always be a favourite. David James first season was sensational, I think people forget how good he was at such a young age. Should've stayed, but hey. Alex Chamberlain was, like Sherwood, a fantastic servant - ditto Gomez. But Tony Coton was the stand out keeper for me: ability, agility, consistency, and of course everybody's favourite rough diamond... proper hard man when the chips were down, not this rubbishy gangsta chic that passes for being a hard man these days.
The greatest saves I have ever seen were Mick Walker at Oxford and Andy Rankin at Old Trafford but Tony Coton was a better goalkeeper. Whether he was better than Ben Foster, I couldn't say.
Tony Coton was consistent for us over the longer period. I imagine Ben Foster and David James as England Internationals were as good as at their peak. My favourite all time keeper has to be Gomes for his enthusiasm! Mick Walker chants are also embedded in my memory....
In terms of having the best career it would be Pat Jennings. My wife was very pleased when it became fashionable to have longer hair as it covered up his outstanding pair of ears. It was obvious from his short spell at Watford here was a super keeper in the making. So I would put him at the top of my list. I have no idea quite how to grade the others despite having spent some time giving it thought. All of them had their supreme moments as well as some disasters. Maybe Tony Coton was the most consistent so he is my No. 2, but I am not going to try and order the others.
Same Yorkie, Gomes has to be my favourite keeper. He was such a positive force, jumping around and clapping, wish we'd rescued him from Spurs sooner. Loach deserves a mention for saving us so often during the dark times (I'm a lot younger than most on here ), and Foster has been a rock since joining. Gomes still edges it for me though.
I think I'd have Bert Slater at #2. Ever-present for nearly four seasons - he only missed eight games after breaking his finger at Middlesboro. I'm convinced that break cost us promotion that season - his replacement, John Cowan - was very poor, particularly over Easter when four matches in seven days saw us glean just one point against teams down near the bottom of the table.
Great article about Andy Rankin... https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/19242924.former-everton-goalkeeper-watfords-player-1970s/
