Cod Almighty | Diary

In the middle of the summer I had a job being a plumber

26 September 2013

Hey, look – it's Jonathan Hedge! Yeah, I'd sort of forgotten about him too. Town's reserve keeper has given an interview to the Tamworth Herald about his time with, um, Tamworth, who visit Blundell Park on Saturday for the next chapter of Shorty's 4-4-2 revolution. In it Hedge reveals his "Everton FC heartbreak" at being dropped from the first team for a couple of weeks – around the time the Lambs visited Goodison in the 2011–12 FA Cup. And this weekend's game? "I may not get to play in it on Saturday but I know it will be a good one."

Your original/regular Diary has long admired the noble patience of the reserve goalkeeper. This is a role, of course, which demands constant readiness for action while at the same time often denying any action at all for years at a time.

Outfield squad players can at least hope for a strategic introduction from the bench, in the event of underperformance or tiredness from one of the two, three or four players whose positions they can fill. If a club's second-choice keeper even makes it on to the subs' bench, their chances of some football rest entirely on an injury to one particular player of the 22 on the pitch. A strategic goalkeeping substitution is so rare as to provoke outrage. Mind you, most of Paulo Di Canio's actions provoke outrage.

These days it's pretty rare for a reserve keeper to stick around. The likes of Hedge sign a one-year contract, fail to dislodge the preferred custodian, and try their luck elsewhere. Long gone are those who play just a handful of first-team games during a long or long-ish spell with a club.

Things are different in the Premier League, of course. Why drop a division and play football for £15,000 a week when you can sit on your arse for £40,000 a week? I'd forgotten Heurelho Gomes existed, too, until he appeared on Tottenham's bench for their League Cup game at Villa the other night. But there's no Paul Reece or Jason Pearcey quietly awaiting their moment. (Peter Grotier, understudying Nigel Batch in the early 80s, got just ten games in three seasons.)

It can't be much fun, can it? Hedge may eventually buck the trend – James McKeown is unlikely to be short of offers when his contract expires next year. Or he may just follow the likes of Andy Pettinger, Gary Montgomery, and whatever last year's one was called, I can't remember, out of the door and away down the M180 as quickly and quietly as they arrived, and take his chances back in the marketplace. Either way, Jonathan Hedge, well done for hanging in there in the meantime.