Steele: United planning for next keeper
Manchester United goalkeeping coach Eric Steele has stated that Manchester United are fully prepared for when Edwin Van Der Sar decides to bring down the curtain on his Old Trafford career.
Steele was referring to United's problems in replacing Peter Schmeichel after he moved to Sporting Lisbon in the summer of 1999. United bought Mark Bosnich from Aston Villa on a free but the Australian failed to hold down a first team place and only made 23 league starts for the Reds. United then targetted Fabien Barthez - who after a successful title winning season, proceeded in making a number if high profiled errors, which resulted in him being dropped in the summer of 2003. Tim Howard and Roy Carroll failed to impress in the two years that followed and eventually Fergie brought in the experienced Edwin Van Der Sar who famously saved Nickolas Anelka's penalty in Moscow.
Eric Steele replace Tony Coton, who was forced to retire due to a knee injury. Steele stated: "My ambitions are to maintain the standards of goalkeeper there has been at this football club. We have to maintain the great tradition set in the modern era by the great Peter Schmeichel. "I also have to ensure that we have that consistently over a sustained period and that we don't have the drop that happened between Schmeichel and Van der Sar. One or two will talk about Fabien Barthez and his contribution here but mainly people talk about Schmeichel and Van der Sar as being the best and in-between was a difficult time."