Pepe Reina
Over the last fifty years Liverpool Football Club has had a variety of goalkeepers several of which have become household names. They are
Tommy Lawrence 1958 - 1971
Ray Clemence 1967 - 1981
Bruce Grobbelaar 1981 - 1994
Sander Westerveld 1999 - 2001
Jerzy Dudek 2001-2007
Jose Reina 2005 to the present Day
Tommy Lawrence and Ray Clemence were both part of the Shankly revolution and did extremely well. They were both instrumental in helping the club on its rise from the second to the first division. Ray Clemence also had the honour of becoming England's number one.
Bruce Grobbelaar came over to this country from Zimbabwe and was well known for his antics in the goalmouth . Bruce would I suppose dance whilst waiting for the ball to arrive and this had the habit of putting of the opposition.
Sander Westerveld was bought into the club by Gerard Houiller but after a series of gaffs was quickly replaced.
Jerzy Dudek was another of Gerard Houiller's signings and made an immediate impact on the club helping them to win several trophies including the Champions League
Jose (Pepe) Reina arrived in 2005 soon after the arrival of Rafa Benitez.
Jose, who since his arrival from Spain has been known by Liverpool FC and supporters alike as Pepe. He was born in Spain in August 1982 and very quickly decided that he wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and become a famous goalkeeper. He started his career with the FC Barcelona youth team and made his La Liga debut in the 2000-2001 season. By 2004 he was attracting attention from other clubs and signed for Villarreal in2004.
Fate then stepped in and Pepe was brought by Rafa Benitez who was looking to strength the goalkeeper side of the team. It did not take Pepe long to settle down and he quickly became the first choice goalkeeper and won his first English honour in 2006. Pepe helped Liverpool win the FA Cup that season by saving three out of four penalties. It was in 2007 that he finally realised his ambition and followed his father by appearing in the Champions League Final. Unfortunately though on that particular day, Liverpool's luck was out and they lost to AC Milan.
Pepe joined the Spanish squad for the 2006 World cup and made one first team appearance in 2008.
From the first day of his arrival at the club, Pepe has proved that he is a world class goalkeeper. I will be honest when I say that he has got Liverpool out of trouble more often than not. There have been many occasions this season where the team have not played at all well but Pepe has always been on top of his game and saved the day.
In the last few days it has been revealed that negotiations have been started aimed at keeping him at Anfield. I honestly do not think Rafa will have any problem with that as Pepe himself has come out and said how much he enjoys being part of the Liverpool set up and wishes to stay for as long as he can.
It was also revealed yesterday on This is Anfield that on behalf of Liverpool Football Club he attended the Bridge Chapel Centre in Garston where a group of girls were involved in setting up the Goals for Girls Project. This is a group set up to ensure that the message gets across to teenagers that things such as Drugs and violence should not be tolerated.
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Interesting that Faith left out David James..
Tommy Lawrence 1958 - 1971
Ray Clemence 1967 - 1981
Bruce Grobbelaar 1981 - 1994
Sander Westerveld 1999 - 2001
Jerzy Dudek 2001-2007
Jose Reina 2005 to the present Day
Redgie. I do apologise for leaving out David James - I certainly did not mean too - In fact his name is still on the list in front of me. He was a great servant for the club between 1992 and 199. As we all know he has now served at Portsmouth for many years and is the first choice England Goalkeeper