To not have the penalty save to win the CL final as your no 1 memory is quite something
"No big clubs wanted me" Van Der Sar
- Thread starter FujiVice
- Start date
Edwin was fecking class
2-2 yep from 2-0 up but we won the league that season. That was the only home game we failed to win that season.
Insane really. He was only in his early 30's, when he moved to Fulham.
Interesting that he moved to Fulham the season Barthez started his decline
Looking back I wished we could have signed him in 2003 instead of Howard
Looking back I wished we could have signed him in 2003 instead of Howard
He was top class, maybe the few years at Fulham ultimately helped him become a better player.
Anyway, I think one of my favourites was saving a Vassell penalty in the derby, 07 I think, which meant they finished the season without having scored a home goal since the start of the year.
Anyway, I think one of my favourites was saving a Vassell penalty in the derby, 07 I think, which meant they finished the season without having scored a home goal since the start of the year.
I dont get this, how can someone be "livid" over a signing? I can understand baffled or unimpressed but livid?
Good point, Schmeichel, Irwin, Kanchelskis, Evra, Vidic and Park are all great examples of this along with VDS. I'm sure we have plenty more examples.
As for VDS, surprised at few posts above saying they didnt want him etc, I thought it was widely accepted that he was a top keeper playing for the wrong club. I was thrilled when we signed him. What a keeper.
What's your number 2 memory? A real one maybe?
Big Pete and Big Ed. So lucky to have such good goalkeepers.
I remember how poor we’d been that season and how I felt GK was a huge priority with Carroll and Howard as the other options.
I may also have had anger issues as a younger man.
Think I was in Selfridges at the time and remember punching a mannequin in the face
Well it WAS Selfridges after all
@FujiVice and he wasn’t shabby there either. Maybe clubs just assumed he was on the decline after leaving Juve. A blessing for United.
Cheers. I was pretty sure we lost the title that season.
Oh grow up
Van Der Sar was about in an era with Schmeichel, Kahn, Buffon, Seaman, Taffarel, Peruzzi, Kopke, Pagliuca and Barthez pre us which is just off the top of my head and his stint at Juve seriously damaged his stock as he looked like a keeper who couldn’t really cut it at a major club outside of in Holland.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing and knowing now what we didn’t then means we’d have got rid of Barthez and signed Van Der Sar from Juve for sure, my memory isn’t great from back then but didn’t Van Der Sar leave Ajax the same summer Schmeichel left us after winning the treble.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing and knowing now what we didn’t then means we’d have got rid of Barthez and signed Van Der Sar from Juve for sure, my memory isn’t great from back then but didn’t Van Der Sar leave Ajax the same summer Schmeichel left us after winning the treble.
Didn't Henry also have a bad experience at Juve?
They let go of Henry and Van der Sar.
He did. He signed with Juve around May/June 1999, may have agreed earlier.
He needed that time out of pressure cooking environment to recollect himself at a smaller club after his Juventus stint TBF. And adapt to PL pace, physicality. A ball playing GK by trade low on confidence, definitely time to adapt to PL to bring out his best ability. IIRC He still made questionable mistake during his first 3 years at Fulham. Only his final season, he looked to come out of it at top of his game.
I think we picked him up at the right time. We were in no good position to fix a broken GK back then.
Yes. He left Ajax same time at Big Pete left us. There were few factors in place. Juventus, Serie A definitely a huge lure despite us just winning a Treble. Edwards had different idea. Already stroke some agreement with Bosnich, so we're not as serious as Juventus who definitely needed a new no 1.
I think we picked him up at the right time. We were in no good position to fix a broken GK back then.
Yes. He left Ajax same time at Big Pete left us. There were few factors in place. Juventus, Serie A definitely a huge lure despite us just winning a Treble. Edwards had different idea. Already stroke some agreement with Bosnich, so we're not as serious as Juventus who definitely needed a new no 1.
He was a 'top team' keeper - which is a very different job I feel to a normal keeper. A keeper for a top team often needs to do nothing for 89 min then pull out a big save. I think a lot of keepers don't work out when they move to a big club because they're not used to not being involved. Our defence was so strong too then, that it was even more pronounced.
Only kidding ya mate. The goal he conceded v Messi at Wembley tends to stick in my mind a bit, should have saved that one.
I think Toldo played in goal for Italy back then or at least I remember him being brilliant for them in Euro 2000.
I was a bit disappointed Fulham signed him. I know he had his struggles at Juventus but guy was a top keeper for Holland and Ajax where he won the CL.
i still can't get over the fact that we replaced Schmikes with Mark Bosnich.
I remember him being considered top tier as well. Chilavert is another name linked with big moves that never happened.
With hindsight we should've moved in faster for Edwin's signature in 1999 to replace Schmichel.
We left it late.
Juventus moved in first and agreed in principle to join them so he understanably turned our late attempt down.
I remember us being linked to a host of GK's during that 98/99 season. Richard Wright, Carlos Roa, Barthez, Van Der Sar the constant names.
Although he was a top Premiership keeper at the time I think Bosnich was 4th or 5th choice for Fergie.
We left it late.
Juventus moved in first and agreed in principle to join them so he understanably turned our late attempt down.
I remember us being linked to a host of GK's during that 98/99 season. Richard Wright, Carlos Roa, Barthez, Van Der Sar the constant names.
Although he was a top Premiership keeper at the time I think Bosnich was 4th or 5th choice for Fergie.
Didn’t Toldo play because of Buffon or Peruzzi being injured ? He’s another keeper I forgot to list though, between 1995 and 2005 there was probably around 15 world class keepers that could have played for any club on any level.
i think these names were the reason I used the word ‘livid’ in my earlier post.
Im sure we were being linked with all the top keepers and then we signed VdS from Fulham.
Ive grown up since and realised that most transfer stories are horse poop!
We were heavily linked to Toldo during the 1999/00 season to solve our GK crisis. Was a top keeper at the time.
I couldn't understand why we didn't sign him earlier prefering to try a bunch of hacks (except for Tim Howard who was a decent GK). Edwin was pure class. The best GK United ever had.
Same I thought he would be a stop gap...a quality stop gap albeit, because he had pedigree. I didnt think he would last as long as he did at such a high level though!
He was fantastic in his first season. It was like he had been at the club for years.
World class keeper at Ajax and then us.
Shame his Juventus experience didnt turn out great for him...he was a flop over there. Was often shakey in games.
That could have been it. Crazy to think Buffon still plays.
Yes there was, even in England, you had Tim Flowers, David Seaman, Khan in Germany
Ironically, history seem to be repeating himself in his post-playing days. Whilst we're promoting some guy no one's heard of to DOF, Edwin is stuck at Ajax.
The quality of keepers in Serie A at that period was immense. Toldo, Perruzzi, Pagliuca, Buffon, De Sanctis, Frey, Tafferel, Marchegiani, Abbiati.
That's rubbish, Big Pete at his best was very good but he was very in consistent, whereas Edwin was the opposite, consistent and the best organiser of a defence we've had.
You're wrong, (s)he's right.Wrong.
Peter Schmeichel is the best ever.
Edwin is the CEO of Ajax. That's the top of the chain. Why would he take a demotion to come be our DoF?
Being a goalkeeper is bloody hard.
A striker can miss 3 sitters in a game and then score in the next 2 and his mistakes are forgotten. A keeper can make 3 high profile mistakes in a season and people think he is crap. From what I remember Edwin was a bit hit and miss at Juve and that probably stuck with him.
A striker can miss 3 sitters in a game and then score in the next 2 and his mistakes are forgotten. A keeper can make 3 high profile mistakes in a season and people think he is crap. From what I remember Edwin was a bit hit and miss at Juve and that probably stuck with him.
Peter was great, De Gea had his flashy moments, but in my time as a United fan VDS has been my favorite keeper.