Best Cheltenham Town goalkeeper?

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Jon Palmer
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I am counting down the top 10 this week.

Who would be your number one number one?
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Nesty
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Permanent only I assume
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Shade
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If permanent...I'd have to go with Higgs. If loans are included...Butland.
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asl
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Shade wrote:If permanent...I'd have to go with Higgs. If loans are included...Butland.
Can't really look past that statement, I don't think.
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Sprout Picker
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asl wrote:
Shade wrote:If permanent...I'd have to go with Higgs. If loans are included...Butland.
Can't really look past that statement, I don't think.
Agree.
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Nesty
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Higgs in recent times, otherwise Bill Gourlay from 50's.
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Jon Palmer
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I am including loans in my top 10 choices...
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I-Love-CTFC
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Higgs is number 1 for me. Butland's natural ability head and shoulders above the rest though.
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Shade
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In that case, 1) Butland, 2) Higgs, 3) Phillips. I was going to put Phillips ahead of Higgs as a better all-round keeper and only going to get better, but I can't after just 6 or 7 months of National League football.
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paperboy
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Nesty wrote:Higgs in recent times, otherwise Bill Gourlay from 50's.
With you on that one Nesty.
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horlickfanclub
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Dave Meeson
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Si Robin
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I do think people pick Butland for what he's done since rather than what he did whilst he was with us. He wasn't perfect with us, and made a number of errors (think Southend away), although the potential was clearly there for all to see.

For me, Scott Brown is number 1, followed by Higgs and either Booky or Phillips in 3rd.
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joes dad
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Martin Thomas
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Artemis
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Butland, Martin Thomas, Higgs are my top 3.
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Jon Palmer
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Number 10 here: http://bit.ly/Top10Goalkeepers10" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thoughts on him?
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little mo
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Martin Thomas
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Malabus
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Martin Thomas
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RegencyCheltenhamSpa
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This is the Echo so Bookie, Higgs, Brown, Butland, and Phillips will all be top ten. Along with Trev that leaves four more. Gourlay, Thomas and Meeson mentioned above which leaves one more. Ron Coltman?
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horlickfanclub
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Chris Ogden and Dave Latchford were impressive.
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Nesty
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Geoff Miles
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Shade
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Si Robin wrote:I do think people pick Butland for what he's done since rather than what he did whilst he was with us.
And I do think you're wrong. What keeper has been "perfect" with us? Certainly not Brown or Higgsy. In my opinion, Butland was the most complete all round keeper I've seen play in goal for us, even though he was young.
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Artemis
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No keeper has been perfect. None ever are. But Butland had an aura about him. He was good and he was confident he was good. Martin Thomas had the same aura.

Alan Nicholls in there somewhere?
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RegencyCheltenhamSpa
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Of course it is difficult to compare over time. Changing ball speed and flight, backpass rules, keepers now being over protected, but most importantly the horrific condition of the pitch in recent years has a huge bearing.
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DWx3
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In my 25 years watching the club:

1. Jack Butland
2. Alan Nicholls
3. Shane Higgs
4. Steve Book
5. Martin Thomas
6. Scott Brown
7. Mark Bosnich
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Sprout Picker
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Neville Southall. ;)

Barry Richardson?! :shock:
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Jon Palmer
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My top 10 here: http://bit.ly/Top10CTFCGKs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Robin
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Butland is without doubt the best keeper we've had that I've seen. Higgs probably second, Martin Thomas also very good. Book and Brown great servants and characters, not short on ability either but not comparable with the first three.
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asl
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Steve Book... Hmm...

Why do I have that old quote in my head: "Ringo isn't even the best drummer in The Beatles."
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RegencyCheltenhamSpa
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Great photo from behind the goal of Booky's miracle penalty save vs Hartlepool in the semi. I still for the life of me don't know exactly what happened. Was it bar > Booky > post? Booky > post > bar > line?

All I remember is the age it took for the referee to decide, the whole ground on tenterhooks until he signalled "no goal".
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Shade
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So when you said top 10, JP, you don't mean the best in order, you mean as an all round person...
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Si Robin
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Or, maybe he just thinks Booky is the best Cheltenham Town keeper.

There is no doubt that Jack Butland is the most naturally gifted goalkeeper to have worn a Cheltenham jersey, but in his, somewhat small, amount of time here, can we say he put in better performances than Scott Brown, Shane Higgs or Steve Book did? They all had their nightmare games, but so did Jack. Did Jack ever, for example, put in a Shane Higgs against Doncaster type performance, or even more recently a Scott Brown against Leyton Orient? If he did then I genuinely don't recall it.

That is not to do Jack a disservice, one of my favourite moments supporting Cheltenham was seeing him pull on the England jersey against Italy having only ever played League football for us. He's undoubtedly class. But his performances for the club, and therefore his time as a Cheltenham goalkeeper, do not mean he was better than (in my opinion) Book, Higgs and Brown (in a 3-2-1 order).
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Henry The Dog
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Time always makes us forget the flaws of players and it's impossible to comment on players we've never seen. Keepers in league one will face better players than the Southern league but possibly protected by better defenders. The keepers we have had are playing at our level because they're missing something maybe consistency but also some have been great shot stoppers but then not so good on crosses. Jack Butland looked a great prospect when he joined and for his age was fantastic and clearly destined for greater things. For me Martin Thomas looked the best having played at a higher level.

Would be interesting to look at who has played for us then played higher and got better. So an all time top 11 but not confined to when the played for us.
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Shade
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Si Robin wrote:Or, maybe he just thinks Booky is the best Cheltenham Town keeper.

There is no doubt that Jack Butland is the most naturally gifted goalkeeper to have worn a Cheltenham jersey, but in his, somewhat small, amount of time here, can we say he put in better performances than Scott Brown, Shane Higgs or Steve Book did? They all had their nightmare games, but so did Jack. Did Jack ever, for example, put in a Shane Higgs against Doncaster type performance, or even more recently a Scott Brown against Leyton Orient? If he did then I genuinely don't recall it.

That is not to do Jack a disservice, one of my favourite moments supporting Cheltenham was seeing him pull on the England jersey against Italy having only ever played League football for us. He's undoubtedly class. But his performances for the club, and therefore his time as a Cheltenham goalkeeper, do not mean he was better than (in my opinion) Book, Higgs and Brown (in a 3-2-1 order).
But JP has put 4 keepers ahead of Butland despite saying he's the most naturally gifted goalkeeper to have played for Cheltenham. It depends how you look at the question, doesn't it. "Best Cheltenham Town goalkeeper". Best in what way? Does it only include their time at the club? For me, of the keepers I've seen play for us;

Butland is the best goalkeeper in terms of his ability to pull of great saves, command his box and coming for crosses.
Higgs is the best in terms of out and out shot stopping ability, closely followed by Brown.
Book is the best in terms of personality and in terms of achievements whilst at the club.
Phillips probably the best in terms of accurate kicking.
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Jon Palmer
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My top 10 was based on all of those factors and Book is the best all-rounder in my opinion.

Character is definitely an important part of how good/popular/influential/well remembered a player is.

Butland actually made two bad mistakes during his loan spell, at Southend and Shrewsbury, but the potential was obvious.

Book won the most, was at the club during the most rapid period of progress, arguably the best shot stopper, top of the pile all things considered, but Cheltenham have been lucky with goalkeepers since he signed.
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