TalkCeltic Greatest Celtic XI (no Lisbon Lions) - Goalkeeper

Vote: Artur Boruc

 

Vote: bonner

 

Vote Charlie Shaw

...and really it's not even close.

Yes, clearly there are those that favour Packy, the Holy Goalie or big Forster, and stunned that only 1 person has mention of John Thomson, but when you look at the stats, they tell you all you need to know. While Bonner holds the record of 254 clean sheets, it took him 632 games to amass that, so roughly 40%.

By contrast, Shaw kept 240 clean sheets in 420 games, at better than 55%. Noone who has played more thany 100 games has matched that percentage! He held the previous record of 1287 minutes without conceding in all competitions, which stood for more than a century until Forster topped it. Not only that, but before this he had gone over 900 minutes before conceding once, then going on to do that record streak.

So basically between 4 Oct 1913 until 28 Feb 1914, he conceded 1 goal in 2,203 minutes of football!

And unlike the modern game, Shaw played in an era where it was standard that teams would play 4 or 5 across the forward line, and therefore was a higher overall ratio of goals to games across the league.

Obviously, a GK cannot claim all of the credit alone for these achievements, and just as Ive given due praise to McNair and Dodds, these 3 were superb in combination. But Shaw as the GK has to have been the lynchpin.

On top of all this, few GK in the game get the distinction of captaining the team, and this is true across all football and across the ages. Yes, there are a few, but it's not exactly common. However, it was an honour that Shaw held, and remains the only GK to be not only the onfield captain, but the official club captain. Which says alot about the regard he was held in as a leader to his teammates, and which faith Willie Maley had in him.

 

Final Vote Count

Artur Boruc: 27
Packie Bonner: 18
Fraser Forster: 3
Peter Latchford: 1
Charlie Shaw: 1
John Thomson: 1

Winner: Artur Boruc

 

Can we get a @Taz XI at the end of this too

Amazing facts mate, love it

 

Aye, there is naturally going to be a recency bias with this vote, so I’d like to see that too.

 

That also makes me feel a bit sick.

 

Pat Bonner

 

Artur for me.

 

Saw i another thread that it is a 4-2-3-1 formation, so:

Shaw
McNair Aitken Connelly McGrain
McStay (CM) Peacock (DM)
Gallacher Larsson McLean
McGrory​