With just over a month to go until the Premier League season begins, Total Football’s Simon Wright will be looking back at the players, teams and goals that have lit up the 20 years of what is widely regarded as the world's greatest league.
The second Premier League icon featured is veteran goalkeeper, David James.
Name: David James
Clubs he played for in the Premier League: Liverpool (1992-1999), Aston Villa (1999-2001), West Ham United (2001-2004), Manchester City (2004-2006), Portsmouth (2006-2010)
Honours: Record of clean sheets for a goalkeeper in the FA Premier League with 173. He was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2012.
PL Appearances: 572
Clean Sheets: 173
There was a Premier League match between Aston Villa and Portsmouth in April 2007 that finished 0-0. Frankly, it was a shocker of a game but it did create a Premier League record that still stands today.
David James (pictured) achieved a new landmark for Premier League clean sheets. It was his 142nd, overtaking David Seaman to take the record. He ended up with 173.
It is a lovely honour to have for a goalkeeper who is vocal, made breathtaking saves but also came up with some daft mistakes and diabolical haircuts along the way!
James was signed by Graeme Souness at Liverpool in July 1992 from Watford for £1.25 million. Just 22-years-old at the time, he was seen as the successor to the ageing Bruce Grobbelaar.
He started the 1992-93 campaign but struggled to settle into the new surroundings at Anfield and Grobbelaar soon had the no.1 goalkeeper jersey back. James bounced back later in the year and achieved his first clean sheet in the league in January 1993, when Liverpool won a hard-fought match at Highbury.
1993-94 was sat mainly on the sidelines but when Grobbelaar transferred to Southampton that summer, James went onto become a focal point of the Liverpool backline and became an ever present for three successive seasons.
Calamity James
The 1996-97 title race was Liverpool’s best chance for years and James played his part in a dreadful run-in that even cost them a top three finish. He made several blunders, notably against Newcastle United and Coventry City.
The final nail came in April 1997 when Manchester United visited Anfield for a game Liverpool had to win.
Having made one mistake already for failing to deal with a David Beckham corner, James then missed another cross allowing Andy Cole to score one of the softest goals of his career. The match ended 3-1 to United and his career on Merseyside was effectively finished.
He put the frequent blunders down to a silly addiction playing computer games on PlayStation that in turn, affected concentration levels.
The many errors then and since have earnt David the unfortunate nickname, Calamity James.
Brad Friedel signed the following season and having been used more fleetingly, James was sold to Aston Villa in the summer of 1999 for £1.8 million.
Surprising attacker
He kept a clean sheet on his Villa debut at Newcastle but didn’t look totally at his best in the two seasons he spent in the Midlands.
A move to West Ham followed in the summer of 2001 but a serious knee injury whilst on England duty, delayed a potential debut for three months. Despite his best efforts, James was relegated with the Hammers in 2002-03 and eight months later, switched to Manchester City as the solid replacement for the retiring Seaman.
His career, which had stalled in latter days at Liverpool and at Villa, came to life at City. He was now England no.1 and played his role in an incredible finale at the City of Manchester Stadium in 2004-05.
City needed to beat Middlesbrough to qualify for the UEFA Cup at the visitors’ expense. With the score at 1-1 and only five minutes remaining, Stuart Pearce substituted Claudio Reyna and brought on reserve goalkeeper Nicky Weaver.
James was summoned into the attack and the radical plan nearly worked when a cross aimed at him was handled in stoppage time.
Unfortunately, Robbie Fowler’s penalty was saved by Mark Schwarzer, handing Boro that coveted seventh place in the table.
Final flourish at Pompey
Personal problems in his marriage affected form the following season and he joined Portsmouth in 2006 to spend the rest of his Premier League career.
He broke the clean sheets record whilst at Fratton Park and in February 2009, overtook the late Gary Speed to become the holder of record amount of Premier League appearances at 536, which has since been surpassed by Ryan Giggs.
James played big roles in Portsmouth winning the Barclays Asia Trophy in 2007 and the FA Cup in 2008 but he couldn’t prevent Pompey’s relegation in 2010 after financial difficulties.
Despite expressing a desire to take over the hotseat at Fratton Park, the board decided not to offer him the manager’s job and James went onto spend two seasons with Championship side Bristol City, who released him at the end of last season.
He has done media work for the BBC in recent times, writes a regular column for The Observer newspaper and does plenty of charity work, which won him recognition in earning an MBE from the Queen in the most recent Birthday Honours List.
David James’s career was never dull and drab. He was flamboyant, error-ridden and a record breaker and will remain a Premier League stalwart.
NEXT TIME ON PREMIER LEAGUE ICONS: Captained a winning team to the title twice and a fitting finale in 1997-98, Tony Adams.
By Simon Wright - Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88
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