Keeper Conundrum

With the news that we're now after Robert Green for £3m from Norwich, not to mention Silvio Proto from La Louviere, I thought it was about time to look back over the last five or six years and see just how many people have donned the gloves for Pompey.

For a long period of Portsmouth's history there was one thing you could count on - Alan Knight would be in goal. In 801 games for us he was a player who linked together manager different teams, managers and eras. Starting out making his debut for a side who were about to be playing in old Division Four, his last professional outing came as an un-used sub in the Premiership at Aston Villa. Not a bad rise, when all's said and done.

Whatever you think about his keeping there's no debating that we've struggled to maintain that sort of consistency at the back since then, barring the odd exception. To highlight this very fact, I give you THE GOALKEEPING COUNTDOWN!

Aaron Flahavan - 105 games
It's difficult to say what Aaron may have gone on to achieve as, after a shaky beginning to his career and a bit of stick from the fans, he was about to start a season as number one for the first time in his career. He played a fair few games for us as a one club man - the most out of anyone on this rundown, hence why he's first - but could rarely claim to "own" the goalkeeping spot. It always seemed as if managers only used him to keep it warm for someone else, and rumours were always flying about potential replacements.

Shaka Hislop - 100 games
You may recall what I said about "the odd exception", and here it is. He reminds me of the impact Nigel Martyn has had at Everton; an older calming influence. And what's more, just like Martyn, you know what you're getting - someone who will rarely make a mistake and someone who will make the occasional stunning save. You're not going to get charging off your line and other rashness, just assured and confident. After saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, it seems he's now off to Coventry.

Russell Hoult - 44 games
Never really hit the heights at Pompey that he would later achieve at West Brom, seeing him be seriously considered for an England place. A decent enough and reliable keeper, until a couple of mistakes saw him get dropped and then he decided he was off. Oh, and he doesn't write rude letters to under-age girls either. Honestly officer.

Andy Petterson - 33 games
Signed off the back of a loan spell when he performed heroics, it swiftly turned out that he wasn't really all that good at all. He's had more clubs than Tiger Woods and is now plying his trade on the non-league circuit, at the moment with Farnborough. Still, towards the end of the 00/01 season, after a year or so in the shadows and loaned out to clubs as glamarous as Torquay, he got a shock recall and ended up playing in a couple of end-of-season games. He was distinctly average and that was that.

Dave Beasant - 28 games
Brought in after the death of Flav, released at Christmas, and then brought back in again after it all went wrong with Yoshi - that was the life of former Southampton keeper "Bez" during his brief spell at Fratton Park. Not a bad keeper but, as you'd expect from a man who was nearly 30 at the highlight of his career in 1988, mobility in 2002 was a touch lacking.

Jamie Ashdown - 21 games
I'll admit to being a harsh critic of Ashdown because I think he gets off too lightly on the basis of being young and English. His positioning at free kicks is rubbish, his ability with crosses is fairly woeful and he lets a fair few tame shots in under his body. Having said that, by goalkeeper terms, he is still young so he can still learn from his mistakes and hopefully have a successful career here, and there's no debating he's a fine shot-stopper. But I'm not yet convinced that he's as good as people think.

Yoshi Kawaguchi - 13 games
The national media absolutely loved to rip it out of poor old Yoshi. This Johnny Foreigner comes into our country and tries to play our game! Whatever next! The fans were always suspicious of him and some said he was "too small", to which the reply came "he's the same height as Barthez". If that was meant to re-assure us, it didn't really work. Either way he was dropped after the Orient debacle (appropriate really) and only made one other sympathy appearance, then went to Norway and now is a hero in Japan again.

Harald Wapenaar - 8 games
I didn't really think Wap was that bad, and I'd certainly challenge anyone to name me a mistake he made that led to a goal. Unfortunately, he's got a couple of things against him - 1) he got beaten straight from a corner in a local derby (even if it was probably Schemmel's fault) and 2) he punches the ball from crosses. Now over most of Europe, punching the ball is fine since it gets it out of danger and you don't have the risk of trying to catch it and dropping it. But this is Blighty, and the sight of a goalkeeper punching the ball is a sign of weakness and they must be burnt immediately. We want the good old days of men without gloves, wearing knitted jumpers and caps who caught it every time. Apparently.

Sasa Ilic - 7 games
Played for a brief while under Rix, then re-signed by Redknapp and never played in our Championship winning season. A bit of a nutter, he never gave us reason to refer to the classic nickname Charlton fans gave him, "Spill-ic". Even so, he was hardly in any danger of becoming a Portsmouth legend. Having said that, I do have a vague memory that he saved a penalty once.

Kostas Chalkias - 6 games
After two days in the country during which he'd met his team-mates once, it made perfect sense for him to be thrown into an FA Cup local derby which had been hyped to the roof due to the departure of Harry Redknapp. Despite his nifty employment of the offside trap to deny Higginbotham a goal, he never quite recovered from his over-exuberant debut and it was downhill from then on. Every single goal that ever went in in any of his five remaining games was always his fault, including 30 yard piledrivers Wayne Rooney going through one-on-one at Old Trafford, and I can't see how he'll ever play again.

Chris Tardif - 5 games
A youngster who some suggested would be our "next big thing" in the goalkeeping department, they forgot to inform us of young Christopher's biggest problem - every single time he plays, he lets in two goals. Even on his debut in the FA Cup when Tranmere had two whole shots on target, they both went in. Even away at Huddersfield when he came on for the last ten minutes with the score at 2-1, it finished 4-1. Even when we blitzed Grimsby 4-2 one happy summer afternoon, can you guess who was in goal? He was eventually saved from it all by the short-lived "Rix Revolution" at Oxford, and judging by their poor league performance he kept letting two in for them as well.

Pavel Srnicek - 4 games
Aah, Pavel. Many was the time I stood behind the advertising boards at the reserve games at West Leigh Park shouting at him. And bless his little cottons, many was the time he shouted back with his poor grasp of the English language. My personal favourite was the time the ball went about ten yards wide and he tried to convince me that he'd got a touch on it, it was a good save and it should've been a corner. Still, enough of that idle name-dropping of the lowest kind - much like Wapenaar, his preference to use his fists (or feet, as shown in yet another local derby) didn't help his cause. Neither did a home match against Everton where two terrible mistakes led to both their goals. He was just starting to get to the Chalky stage of being blamed for everything when he was dropped.

Andrea Guatelli - 0 games
Still young and yet to start, but he's got potential (if not a little rash). But having seen the list above of how many keepers we've gone through in such a short space of time, do you really give him a chance? Start praying now, Andrea. Not only do you have a girl's name but you've got a big curse to over-turn...