De Goey realises an ambition

Nelson Mandela has been an inspiration to many and the Chelsea goalkeeper Ed de Goey is one of them. An impressive performance in the South African president's invitation match in May paved the way for his arrival to the Premiership, an ambition he feared had long since passed him by.

The game brought De Goey's return to the Dutch national team because the first choice, Edwin van der Sar, was away on tour with Ajax; that was lucky chance number one. The second was the presence in Johannesburg of Ruud Gullit, Mandela's guest of honour in recognition of his efforts to promote race harmony.

On the flight home de Goey found himself next to the Chelsea manager. A conversation began about the player's contract arrangements with Feyenoord which soon developed into a transfer proposal. He was already tied to the Rotterdam club for three years and talks were under way to extend that until 2001.

However, life for the 30-yearold was about to undergo an upheaval. Needing money to sign a South American striker, Feyenoord agreed to Gullit's £2.25 million offer and Chelsea had another Continental goalkeeper.

"When I was a youngster I supported Liverpool and I always wanted to play in England because the league is so strong," de Goey said. "In Holland you can be winning a game 2-0 and that is it: game over. That would never happen here.

"I had been with Feyenoord seven years and assumed I would finish my career there. I watched the FA Cup final on television and not for a minute did I think I would be joining the team who were winners that day."

In fact, there were a few players scattered about the globe watching the 2-0 victory over Middlesbrough little realising they were destined to join Gullit's multinational collection of footballing talent.

They included the Frenchman Bernard Lambourde, Celestine Babayaro of Nigeria and the Uruguayan Gustavo Poyet. All three have picked up injuries and with the Norwegian centre-forward, Tore Andre Flo, not due to arrive in the country until this weekend, it leaves De Goey alone among the summer recruits likely to step out at Wembley for tomorrow's Charity Shield encounter with Manchester United.

He played there for Holland in 1993, a 2-2 draw that exposed the shortcomings of England's World Cup-qualifying challenge and of the Graham Taylor reign. He is looking forward to this return and the chance to stake his claim to the first-team jersey while Dmitri Kharine continues to work his way back to fitness.

He is in competition with Frode Grodas, Kevin Hitchcock, the perennial standby, and Nicky Coghlan, who was once reckoned to be the next in line. "Nothing was said about whether I am first choice," De Goey said. "It is up to me to play well and make it my own. That is my priority before I can even think about reclaiming my international place."

Tomorrow's goalkeepers will be subject to particular scrutiny under the new laws. They are not permitted to handle back passes that have been headed or thrown in. Those who retain the ball for more than six seconds will be penalised.

De Goey says the onus is on his team-mates to make life easier for him. "They must be ready and in position so I can throw the ball out to them quickly. Apart from that there shouldn't be much difference."

He is likely to find the English game more physical than he is used to, and Gullit believes Chelsea's success last season will make them targets for the cruder elements among the opposition.

"We have been kicked in the pre-season games by teams who were doing everything to make it difficult for us," he said. "I have told my players they will have to get used to it.

"It is a mark of respect for what we achieved last year and the sign of the jealousy that is now shown towards us. It is why I respect Alex Ferguson so much: he has had to put up with this at Manchester United for so long and yet still produces winning football."