Been there, done that

MARK CROSSLEY . . . has no immediate plans to quit soccer despite being in the veteran stage of his career.

Mark’s 20-year milestone at first-team level

ATHLETIC goalkeeper Mark Crossley is celebrating the rare landmark of 20 years in first-team football.

Crossley made his debut for Nottingham Forest in late 1988, launching a career which now spans more than 550 senior games.

The 39-year-old, who is in his second season at Boundary Park, still relishes the weekly challenge and hasn’t ruled out an extension to his playing contract.

Crossley has had spells with eight different clubs and even played for two different countries – he was an England under-21 international before switching allegiance to Wales.

Here he looks back over two action-packed decades, including an appearance in the FA Cup final and some amazing tales involving the legendary Brian Clough.


BEST MANAGER: Crossley said: “That has to be Cloughie because he gave me my chance at Forest and I had six years with him before he retired.

“He treated the players as his family and knew how to get the best out of people.

“I made my debut in strange circumstances because the first-choice ’keeper, Steve Sutton, went down with illness a few hours before a night game and the other two ’keepers were out on loan.

“Cloughie rang my mum and dad and wined and dined them all day, but he told them not to tell me I was playing.

“It was half an hour before kick-off and I was doing my duties around the ground when he said ‘Young man, come and get your boots on’.

“There was no time to get nervous and I just went out and played – that sums up his man-management, although I’ve been punched by him as well!

“There was another time when I saved a penalty against Aston Villa after the referee had made a dubious decision to award it.

“I shook his hand at the end of the game even though he’d had a nightmare, but Cloughie was furious and he dragged me off to the dressing room and tried to hang me on a peg – eccentric is the perfect word to describe him.”


BEST GAME: “You can’t get much better than the FA Cup final, which I played in for Forest (against Tottenham in 1991).

“Unfortunately we lost, but I saved a penalty from Gary Lineker and only myself and Dave Beasant have saved penalties in a cup final.

“Another highlight would be scoring a goal for Sheffield Wednesday when I went up for a setpiece near the end.

“But I was also the first person to score an own goal in the Premier League. That happened against Blackburn when I tried to throw the ball out quickly but lost control and it trickled over the line.”


BEST SAVE: “Obviously the cup-final penalty is the one, but funnily enough we played Tottenham in the cup again the following season and, after it went to a shoot-out, I saved three out of five.

“I’m also the only ’keeper to save a penalty from Matthew Le Tissier – he scored 48 out of 49 over his career – but I’ve never done extra work on that area, I just make up my mind which way to go.”


BEST TEAM-MATE: “I’ve had the pleasure of playing with some fantastic people, and the first ones who come to mind at club level are Stuart Pearce and Des Walker.

“I always looked up to Stuart because he was a brilliant player and a brilliant captain, but probably the best of all was Ryan Giggs with Wales.”


BEST OPPONENT: “Alan Shearer always used to score past me, but it wasn’t just his goalscoring. His all-round ability was fantastic.

“It’s hard to pick people out when you’ve been lucky enough to play in the Premier League, but I’ve got to mention Thierry Henry, who was magnificent.”