Seaman plays safe

Seaman retires with riches that were beyond the wildest dreams of Shilton, a goalkeeper of enduring excellence who played on and on.

His England career had been over for seven years when, aged 48, he made his 1,000th League appearance, in a Third Division match for Leyton Orient in 1997.

Seaman has no need to drift down through the divisions. The modern game has made him a wealthy man.

His status as England's No1 has given him a public profile that he will now exploit on TV, much like his former Arsenal team-mate Ian Wright does, and the respect in which he's held within the professional game means that there will be plenty of coaching opportunities available if he chooses that path.

What should a young student of goalkeeping take from Seaman's game? Certainly his bravery when smothering the ball at the feet of attackers.

His shot-stopping was good, his positioning sound and, for most of his career, he enjoyed command of the air in his six-yard box.

Bob Wilson, the former Arsenal goalkeeping coach, always praised Seaman's mental strength.

"His ability to recover from setbacks was remarkable," he said. "And it was almost always motivated by him not by me.

"He'd call and say, 'I want an extra session. Let's get to work until I get it right'."

All the great goalkeepers made mistakes, but Seaman, like Shilton, made less than most.

But the trouble with the modern game is that there is no hiding place for keepers. Mistakes are seen globally, over and over again.

Some of Seaman's were class-A howlers. All Europe chuckled when the former Tottenham forward Nayim caught him out of position with a speculative lob from near the halfway line in the Cup-Winners' Cup Final in Paris in 1995. That mistake, in extra time, handed the trophy to Real Zaragoza.

The whole world chuckled when Seaman was caught in no-man's land by Ronaldinho's freakish long-range free-kick for Brazil in a 2002 World Cup quarter-final. He was inconsolable afterwards as he apologised for letting down the country.

He had wanted to repeat the feat of Shilton - who retired gloriously from international football in the World Cup third-place play-off in Italy in 1990 - but it wasn't to be.

Another mistake, when Macedonia's Artim Sakiri scored direct from a corner at Southampton in October 2002, was all the evidence Sven-Goran Eriksson needed to promote David James to the No1 spot.

Having succeeded Seaman with England, James is now taking his shirt at Manchester City, too.

But it says something for Seaman's reputation that West Ham considered signing him as James' replacement until they realised his shoulder injury was likely to accelerate his retirement.

It is as well that Seaman has bowed to the inevitable. Injuries have eroded his physical prowess and undermined his confidence. He has always delivered consistency, but can no longer guarantee that.

Remember 1991? That was his most consistent season. He conceded just 18 goals as Arsenal won the title.

He will be remembered, too, for an excellent record of saving penalties - in the shoot-out with Spain in Euro 96, for instance, and earlier against Scotland's Gary McAllister.

His contribution to the success of the modern Arsenal should not be underestimated. He played in the best defence in the Premiership for many years and won three Championship medals and three FA Cup winners' medals, along with 75 England caps and sundry other bits and pieces. Not bad for a boy who was rejected by Leeds United.

A bluff, pony-tailed Yorkshiremen with a love of fishing, Seaman overcame that rejection, worked hard and had sufficient confidence in his own ability to sign all his autographs "Safe Hands".

I always thought that a bit presumptuous, but the truth is that his hands usually were just that.