Keepers of faith

A quarter of a century on from Athletic’s League Cup final appearance, the Chronicle profiles the top 25 players to have worn the famous shirt since.

TAKING the Wembley date as a starting point, the Chronicle has picked out the top 25 players to have represented the club since then.

In a series which will continue throughout the close season, those chosen men will be profiled — with supporters getting a chance to vote for their favourite.

Today we examine two more terrace heroes.

THE candidates so far: Jose Baxter, Rick Holden, Sean Gregan, Ian Marshall, Neil Redfearn, John Sheridan, Nick Henry, Mike Milligan, Chris Taylor, David Eyres, Lee Richardson, Richie Wellens, Carl Winchester, Gunnar Halle, Kieran Lee, Gary Kelly, Paul Gerrard.

Gary Kelly

IT FINISHED badly for Gary Kelly at Athletic, but in terms of sheer consistency over a period of years the goalkeeper certainly stands out.

“I’m extremely disappointed with the way it ended at Oldham after six seasons there,” Kelly said, after departing with a pay-off in 2002 as money troubles left the club strapped for cash. “The way I went from first to third choice and was then shunted out, it all happened very quickly.”

At that point in time — after 265 appearances for the club — Kelly, the son of a goalkeeper in Alan Kelly and brother of another shot-stopper also called Alan, was the longest-serving player at Boundary Park.

The Irishman signed a fortnight before Shaun Garnett in 1996, stepping in to the club in exchange for a £10,000 fee after keeping 23 clean sheets in a single season for Bury on their way to promotion.

That cut-price deal surely goes down as one of the club’s best of all time, brokered by the not universally popular figure of Graeme Sharp.

Kelly immediately played in 46 straight games, establishing himself to the extent that Jon Hallworth was granted a free transfer and earning a new long-term deal.

In the 1996-97 season he won a clean sweep of player-of-the-season awards and two years later he was called into Ireland’s squad for the Euro 2000 play-offs to replace his injured brother on the bench in Turkey.

Kelly’s reliability between the posts earned him a contract extension in late 2001, tying him into a deal which would take him past his 37th birthday.

But four months later, it was confirmed that ruptured ankle ligaments would end his campaign prematurely.

After Athletic, he went on to feature in non-league for Northwich Victoria and Leigh RMI, with a short stint as cover at Sheffield United under Neil Warnock in between.

PAUL GERRARD

THE career of Paul Gerrard started and finished at Boundary Park, with a period of 15 years spent mainly at Everton and Nottingham Forest in the meantime.

Born in Heywood and a graduate of the youth system at Athletic, Gerrard rose to prominence in the Premier League under Joe Royle and made his debut as a teenager in a 3-2 defeat at Queen’s Park Rangers in December, 1992.

Gerrard’s top-flight escapades helped earn him international recognition, captaining England’s under-21s side in the mid-1990s.

“I joined Latics at 13 and I made by debut in the Premier League, aged 19, which was a baptism of fire,” Gerrard reflected years later.

“I had some great years here. I was lucky Joe Royle had the confidence and belief to put me in the team at such an early age and it stood me in good stead for when I joined Everton.”

In his first spell with Athletic, Gerrard made 188 appearances and was part of the side which earned the ‘Great Escape’ from relegation in 1993—keeping a clean sheet in a famous win over Manchester United in the process.

Almost two years after Royle left Athletic to go to Everton, he returned to take the goalkeeper, then aged 23, to Goodison Park in a deal worth around £1.5million.

The return of Neville Southall saw his first-team prospects diminish and after loans at Oxford, Ipswich, Sheffield United and Nottingham Forest he joined the latter club permanently.

In his later years as a player first-team appearances were tough to come by. But after coming back to Athletic as a goalkeeping coach under Paul Dickov, he got back out onto the field in November, 2011.

Alex Cisak had been sent off and Gerrard’s first contribution as a substitute was to face a penalty from Bury’s Andy Bishop — which he promptly saved.

Gerrard currently works as a goalkeeping coach under Dickov at Doncaster.