CHRIS WOODS

'Christopher 'Chris' Charles Eric Woods' (born November 14, 1959 in Swineshead, Lincolnshire) is a former football goalkeeper who was best known for being Peter Shilton's long-time understudy in the England team in the mid to late 1980s.

Contents

Playing career

Nottingham Forest

Queens Park Rangers

Norwich City

Rangers

Sheffield Wednesday

After Wednesday

Coaching career

Chris Woods autobiography CD

External links

References

Playing career

Nottingham Forest

Woods was a confident, brave, and agile goalkeeper, and his association with Shilton began at an early age when he signed for Nottingham Forest as an apprentice in 1976. Over the next three years he never made an appearance for Forest as they won promotion from the Football League Second Division in 1977 - Shilton had yet to arrive at this time - and then won the Football League First Division title straightaway. Shilton came to the club in September 1977 and didn't miss a match.
However, Woods was given his chance to make an impact when he was selected by manager Brian Clough to play in Forest's League Cup fixtures that season, as Shilton had already appeared for previous club Stoke City in the competition and was therefore cup-tied. Forest reached the final where they played Liverpool at Wembley and Woods was thrust on to the big stage as an unknown outside of Nottingham. He responded with a brave and mature display, and a number of telling saves, as the game ended 0-0. He kept a second clean sheet in the replay and a John Robertson penalty won Forest the game and the Cup.
Woods' heroics were, however, never going to displace Shilton, whose form in the First Division was such that he was only ever going to miss a match if he became injured. Forest went on to win the League Cup again in 1979, but this time Shilton played. Woods was on the bench when Forest then won the European Cup with a 1-0 win over Malmö in Munich, and therefore gained a medal.

Queens Park Rangers

In the summer, Queens Park Rangers offered £250,000 for Woods, even though he was not yet 20 years old and had not made a League appearance. The move took place and Woods settled into Second Division life as QPR's first-choice goalkeeper. He played two seasons there before Norwich City offered £225,000 to take Woods to East Anglia.

Norwich City

As Norwich's goalkeeper, Woods' performances really began to attract attention. In 1985 Norwich reached the League Cup final and Woods picked up his second winners medal when his side beat Sunderland 1-0 at Wembley, though Woods was fortunate not to concede when Sunderland player Clive Walker struck a penalty against his left-hand post. Despite Woods' subsequent efforts, Norwich were relegated at the end of that season, but England coach Bobby Robson had seen enough to take Woods on a post-season tour of North America. The following season, Woods won a second division championship medal as Norwich won promotion back to the top flight at the first attempt. In 2002, he was voted into the club's Hall of Fame.
In the international fold, Woods was once again Shilton's back-up, but he was given his debut in a friendly against the USA in Los Angeles. He would rarely be left out of an England squad again over the next five years.
Woods went to the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico as Shilton's potential replacement; he wasn't required to play and England exited in the quarter-finals.

Rangers

After the tournament, Woods left Norwich for Rangers in a £600,000 deal as one of the original 'English invasion' of players (such as Woods's England team-mate Terry Butcher) brought to Glasgow by manager Graeme Souness.
Woods won a Scottish League Premier Division title medal and a Scottish League Cup medal in his first season. From November 1986 to January 1987, Woods set a British record by playing 1196 consecutive minutes of competitive football without conceding a goal^[1].
While at Rangers, Woods received his fifth England cap - and his second start - in a 2-0 win over Yugoslavia at Wembley which inched England further towards qualification for the 1988 European Championships. Woods came on as a substitute for Shilton twice in 1987; and started two matches - a European Championships qualifier against Turkey and a goalless draw against Scotland at Hampden Park in the Rous Cup. Two more starts would follow in the subsequent season prior to the European Championships in Germany.
Meanwhile, Woods managed to retain the Scottish League Cup with Rangers, even though Celtic took the bigger prizes in 1987/88. Woods also suffered the ignominy of being sent off in an ''Old Firm'' game against Celtic after a spat with opposing centre forward Frank McAvennie - a misdemeanour which led to Woods and clubmate Butcher securing criminal convictions for "behaviour likely to cause a breach of the peace".
England suffered two embarrassing defeats in the opening brace of group games at the 1988 European Championships, and therefore Robson could afford to rest Shilton for the third and final group match, against the USSR, which had been rendered meaningless. Woods therefore played his first match in a competitive finals - his 13th in total - conceding three times as England rolled over with spectacular ineptitude.
Rangers regained the Scottish Premier League in 1989, though Woods missed half the season with an ear infection which - crucially for a goalkeeper - affected his balance. By now, another goalkeeper had emerged as a potential successor to the ageing Shilton, with QPR's David Seaman receiving a first cap in a draw against Saudi Arabia in Riyadh. However, Woods was still regarded by Robson as his primary understudy for Shilton, who had, by now, earned his 100th cap and was about to break Bobby Moore's record of 108. Also on the scene was Dave Beasant, who won two caps as a sub as Robson checked out other goalkeepers, but still Woods was the man whom Robson would call in a Shilton-related emergency. As all this went on, England qualified for the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy with some ease and Woods picked up another Scottish Premier League title with Rangers.
Robson chose Woods and Beasant as Shilton's understudies - Seaman was injured, but even if he had been available Woods would still have been in the squad - and England went to the semi-finals, where they lost on penalties to West Germany. Robson had considered substituting Shilton prior to the penalty shootout which defeated England, but not to Woods' benefit. Beasant, also available on the bench, was a renowned penalty stopper and the thought of putting him in goal crossed Robson's mind. However, he decided not to do so.
Woods did not play again in the World Cup - even though England were forced to play the third place play-off match against Italy after their semi-final defeat, Robson chose to keep Shilton in the side for his 125th and final cap. Robson also quit afterwards and successor Graham Taylor instantly installed Woods as his number one.
By the summer of 1991, Woods had won another Scottish title medal with Rangers. In the close season, however, manager Walter Smith, concerned at the implications of a UEFA ruling to limit the number of foreign players eligible to compete in European club competitions, opted to replace Woods with Andy Goram of Hibs, a goalkeeper eligible to play for Scotland and therefore able to play for Rangers without breaching the 'three foreigner' rule. By that point, Woods had accumulated 24 caps as England made steady progress through their qualification for the 1992 European Championships.

Sheffield Wednesday

In August 1991, Rangers accepted an offer of £1.2 million from Sheffield Wednesday and Woods headed to Hillsborough.
Wednesday had just won the League Cup and promotion to the First Division, so Woods was back in English football's top flight again after a six-year absence. He went to the 1992 European Championships as England's first choice keeper and kept clean sheets in his first two matches. Unfortunately, England couldn't score in either so victory was paramount against hosts Sweden in the last group match. Sweden won 2-1, however, so England were eliminated and Woods had suffered major disappointment in his first tournament as England's number one keeper.
He stayed in the side the following year as England stuttered in their qualification campaign for the 1994 FIFA World Cup, losing a crucial match in Oslo against Norway in the process. Then, after a bad defeat against the USA in Boston during a summer tour in 1993, Taylor dropped Woods and, after trying two other keepers, installed Seaman in the side. Woods, after 43 caps, would never play for England again.
His club career was also full of disappointments in 1993, as Wednesday reached the League Cup final again but lost 2-1 to Arsenal. The two sides then met again in the FA Cup final - Woods' first - and drew 1-1. They were set for another 1-1 draw in the replay and thus penalties before a late, late Andy Linighan header in the closing seconds of extra time made it over the line, with Woods shouldering some of the blame, and Arsenal emerged victorious again.

After Wednesday

By 1996, Woods found himself out of favour at Wednesday and had a short loan spell at Reading before moving to the USA to play for Colorado Rapids.
In October 1996, Graeme Souness, now manager at Southampton negotiated his loan from Colorado Rapids as cover for Dave Beasant, with a view to a permanent transfer, but in his fourth appearance he broke his leg at Blackburn Rovers and returned to the U.S.A. to recuperate.
He then returned to England for spells at Sunderland and Burnley before retiring.

Coaching career

Woods is now the goalkeeping coach at Everton. He took this job in 1998 under his ex-Rangers boss Walter Smith and has continued in the role under current manager David Moyes.
In 2005, Chris appeared in Sky One's The Match, replacing Neville Southall late in the second half, saving Darren Campbell's penalty. Woods also appeared in a charity England vs Germany match at Reading's Madejski Stadium in May 2006. The match was played by celebrities and former footballers, with Germany winning 4-2.

Chris Woods autobiography CD

Chris Woods took part in the pilot for a new autobiography CD called 60 minutes with Chris Woods on the 2nd July 2007 when he was interviewed by David Knight. Chris spoke for the first time about his historical career and told tales about his playing career and aspirations for the future. Chris took part in a live signing session and signed 1000 certificates which are to accompany this limited edition CD available at www.60mins.tv [1] Source- FA website

External links

★

★ Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk

References

1. BBC Sport - Ask Albert - Number 53