ANFIELD
SPOTLIGHT:
CHRIS KIRKLAND
Catching up with the keeper who
joined Liverpool a dozen years ago and is now approaching 300 career
appearances
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"He did great last
season in a struggling team,” says Chris Kirkland - who originally moved to
Anfield in 2001.
“It’s a big step up coming here - a major step up - but he
seems a confident lad. I’m sure he’ll do well and Brendan Rodgers will look
after him.”
That’s something Kirkland could always rely on himself when
Gerard Houllier was manager. As the form of Jerzy Dudek seemed to dip during the
2002/03 campaign, the Frenchman wasted no time in handing the then-21-year-old
an extended run in his first XI.
The former Coventry City man was quick to repay his manager’s
faith, helping Liverpool progress in three cup competitions before being struck
down with a cruciate knee ligament injury away to Crystal Palace in January
2003.
Houllier was also on hand to reassure the young shot-stopper
that he was still part of his long-term plans.
“I flew back with him after the Palace game,” recalls Chris.
“He said to me, ‘I’ll look after you and sort you out a new contract’. I already
had five years left and he gave me a new six-year-deal!”
Kirkland, it seems, was always in his manager’s thoughts,
even when injury kept him out of the 2003 Worthington Cup Final victory over
Manchester United. “He gave me his medal, which was great of him. He always
looked after me.”
Houllier had been keeping tabs on the future England
international long before he made him Britain’s most expensive goalkeeper,
eventually pouncing after Coventry’s relegation to the Football League.
“Gary McAllister rang me a few months before and said,
‘Look, they (Liverpool) really like you - just keep doing what you’re doing for
Coventry.
“I’d played with Gary before and he came back to train with
us for a bit. When he went back up he told Gerard I’d come on leaps and bounds.”
The Reds made their move on deadline day, August 2001, but
the ink had barely dried on his Anfield contract when Polish international Dudek
joined from Feyenoord.
But Kirkland remained upbeat. “I knew (about Dudek). Gerard
had said he was going to sign another keeper and that he wanted to nurture me,
but he said I’d get my chance and that’s the way it worked out.”
Despite knowing he’d be set for a spell on the sidelines, the
prospect of playing for the team he supported as a boy was too hard for Chris
to ignore.
“I’d have only left for Liverpool, they were my team. My dad
used to take me up (to Anfield) on the bus from Hinckley.
“I was enjoying my time at Coventry and it was tough to
leave but in the end it was an easy decision to make. I don’t regret anything
that happened.”
After being sidelined for nine months with the injury he
suffered at Selhurst Park, the giant shot-stopper began slowly rebuilding his
Anfield career.
He made a dozen appearances in Houllier’s final season at
the club and a further 14 in 2004/05, including the crucial Champions League
encounter with Olympiacos, under new boss Rafa Benitez.
“It was a great night obviously, the European nights at Anfield
always are and the crowd helped no end.”
Fans who read a recent edition of the Liverpool FC magazine
might recall Antonio Nunez blaming Kirkland for Rivaldo’s opener, saying he was
instructed by his keeper to create a gap in the wall for the free-kick. “I
should have done better with that, yeah. It was totally my fault!” laughs the
32-year-old.
But despite the initial set-back, Kirkland remained
confident the Reds would eventually come up with the result they needed.
“It was late doors when Stevie (Gerrard) scored. People say that
the crowd suck the ball in and they certainly did that night.
“You sort of knew we were going to go on and win the competition.
Even 3-0 down against Milan, I was sitting in the stands and you could tell
they were going to win, I don’t know what it was. The Olympiacos game was the
turning point.”
Sadly, Kirkland suffered a back injury in the derby defeat
to Everton the following January and the Leicestershire-born keeper recalls his
frustration at not being involved in the remainder of the 04/05 Euro campaign.
“Anyone who is honest will tell you the same; if you don’t
play in the final, you don’t feel part of things.
“It was tough not being part of the final but I was
delighted as a supporter that we won it.”
Despite featuring in four out of six group games before his
injury, the former England international was again left without a medal.
But Kirkland refused to let it dampen the celebrations, describing
them as part of a “great night”.
That summer, Benitez brought in Pepe Reina as his new no1
and Chris sensed his days at the club were numbered, with a loan move to West
Bromwich Albion soon arranged.
“I struggled after Joe Corrigan left. The Spanish goalie
coaches were lovely chaps but I just didn’t enjoy the training. It was different
to everything I’d been taught.
“I was brought up on the English way - hard work,
repetitions and lots of volleys and half-volleys.”
With his agent still based in the Midlands and Corrigan now
working under Bryan Robson at West Brom, a move to the Hawthorns was a logical
one for all parties.
Kirkland made just 12 appearances for the Baggies before losing
his place to a combination of Tomasz Kuszczak’s form and injury – a challenge with Bolton’s Kevin Davies left
him with a lacerated kidney - and he was on the move again ahead of the 06/07
campaign, joining Wigan Athletic on an initial six-month loan deal.
It soon turned in to six years when the Latics decided to
make the move permanent and Kirkland describes the first four of those as the
“best time of my career”.
He made his international debut against Greece at the age of
25 – earning his dad around £10,000 in the process, due to a bet he’d placed
when Chris was in his teens – though he admits he “doesn’t really like talking
about England”.
Despite a poor start to the 2007/08 campaign, Steve Bruce
was appointed the club’s new boss and Wigan finished comfortably in 14th
place.
“That’s probably the best season I’ve had in football. I won
two awards at the end of the year, it was great.”
But when Roberto Martinez took over in 2009, Kirkland was
faced with a familiar problem – a Spanish goalkeeper coach.
“I wasn’t enjoying training. I found my game going, I wasn’t
confident and in the end it paid in performances.”
He was released in the summer of 2012, having spent the last
two years of his Wigan career on the sidelines. He signed for Sheffield Wednesday
ahead of their return to the Championship and admits, he wasn’t exactly spoilt
for choice.
“Everyone thought ‘cos I wasn’t playing at Wigan I must have
been injured. It wasn’t the case at all, I was out of favour and obviously
people put two and two together. They thought: well, he must be injured and it
puts people off.”
The towering goalie was a revelation in his debut season at
Hillsborough, coming second in the club’s player of the year awards as the Owls
escaped the drop, finishing 18th.
Kirkland believes he “shut a few people up” by playing in
all 46 league games for his new club in 2012/13, and points out:
“I didn’t miss any training sessions either; the problems
with my back are long gone.”
The former England international has ambitions of being a
fireman when he retires, but stresses;
“I hope that’s a few years away yet.
“I’ve always fancied it. My Dad’s friend’s the boss down at
a garage in Hinckley, I’ve done a bit of training down there and really enjoyed
it”, he adds.
“I’ve got no desire to go in to coaching, as it stands. But
you’ve got to do something with your time.”
