David James (footballer, born 1970)

For other people named David James, see David James (disambiguation).

David James

Personal information
Full name	David Benjamin James
Height	1.94 m (6 ft 4+1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team	Portsmouth
Number	1
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 19:12, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

David Benjamin James (born 1 August 1970 in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire) is an English professional footballer who currently plays for Portsmouth in the Premier League. He has played as a goalkeeper for a number of English clubs, and has won 42 caps for the England national football team. He won a League Cup medal with Liverpool in 1995, and an FA Cup medal with Portsmouth in 2008 .

Club career

Watford

Of mixed English and Jamaican descent, James signed as a trainee with Watford on leaving school in 1986 and was first selected for the first team in 1989. He spent this time training under coach Daniel Jones which played a part in the development of his goalkeeping technique. In his days as a youth player, he helped Watford win the FA Youth Cup. He made his league debut on the 25 August 1990 in a 2–1 defeat at the hands of Millwall at Vicarage Road. His performances at Watford resulted in an England under-21 call-up for a match against the Republic of Ireland, in which he He then maintained a regular place in the under-21 team, earning ten caps in total. At club level, James made 98 first-team appearances for Watford before he was signed for £1m by Liverpool on 6 July 1992.

He was Watford's Player of the Year for the 1990-91 season, when he kept goal in all 46 Second Division games and was a key player in their remarkable escape from relegation.

In 2008 he was inducted into the Watford Hall of Fame for his services to the club.

Liverpool

James made his Liverpool debut on 16 August 1992 in the 1-0 Premier League defeat to Nottingham Forest at the City Ground, conceding a Teddy Sheringham goal. Things got worse for the youngster and after conceding 20 goals in 11 games the following season, he was dropped by Liverpool boss Graeme Souness and briefly displaced by the veteran Bruce Grobbelaar.

James gained a recall and kept his first clean sheet for the Merseysiders on 31 January 1993 as the Reds beat Arsenal 1-0 in a Premier Division fixture at Highbury. The clean sheet was made that much sweeter as James saved a penalty from the Gunners Paul Merson. When Souness was replaced at the helm of the Anfield club, James found favour under Souness' successor Roy Evans, and became the regular No. 1 in the Liverpool team of the 1990s. During this time, he rose to fame together with Steve McManaman, Jamie Redknapp and Robbie Fowler. They were soon nicknamed the "Spice Boys" - a derogatory term using the comparison to the Spice Girls, which was used by those who alleged the Liverpool team of that decade were more focused on partying than winning games.

Despite winning the League Cup in 1995 when Liverpool beat Bolton Wanderers 2-1 at Wembley, Liverpool's side at the time had failed to oust rivals Manchester United as England's premier club, due to the team's poor defensive record coupled with James's occasional high-profile mistakes which earned him the nickname Calamity James, this is a reference to the comic strip with same name which is published in children's comic, The Beano. He put down his spate of errors to an overindulgence of playing computer games that in turn affected his concentration.

With the arrival of American goalkeeper Brad Friedel, his place at Liverpool became less assured, and on 23 June 1999, after 277 games for Liverpool, he was sold to Aston Villa for £1.8m.

Aston Villa

James made his Villa debut on 7 August 1999 as James kept a clean sheet in the 1-0 away win over Newcastle United in the opening Premier League game. His inconsistency continued; although he did prove to be the hero in saving penalties against Bolton Wanderers in the 2000 FA Cup semi-final, but then was at fault for Chelsea's winning goal in the ensuing final, the last to be staged at the old Wembley. He is still popular amongst Villa fans and he has received a good reception from Villa fans whenever returning to the ground with subsequent clubs.

After just two years which saw him make 85 appearances, James moved to West Ham United for £3.5M on 11 July 2001, signing a four year contract. However, a serious knee injury sustained while on international duty prevented James from playing for West Ham for several months.

West Ham United

James eventually made his debut for the Hammers on 24 November 2001 in the 1-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur at Upton Park. While at West Ham his consistency improved, but he was unable to help the club avert relegation from the Premier League in 2003.

After 102 appearances for the Londoners James was on the move again; on 14 January 2004, he returned to the Premier League, signing for Manchester City for an undisclosed fee, replacing David Seaman, who retired earlier that week. He made his debut for City on 17 January in a 1-1 league draw with Blackburn Rovers at the City of Manchester Stadium.

Manchester City

When James arrived at Manchester City, they were enduring a long winless streak. In his 17 City appearances that season, James finished on the winning side only four times, but twice prevented defeat by saving penalties in matches against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leicester City. He was also given a new lease of life by Stuart Pearce, his new manager, who played him as a striker for the last six minutes of a match against Middlesbrough in the 2004-05 season, in an unsuccessful attempt to find a winner.

On 10 August 2006 he stated that he needed to leave Manchester City to be closer to his children; James had separated from his wife and felt detached from his children who lived in London. A move to Portsmouth would allow him to be closer to his children. The following day Manchester City confirmed they had accepted a bid from Portsmouth.

Portsmouth

On 12 August 2006, James completed his £1.2 million move to Portsmouth, where he signed a two year deal. He made his debut 8 days later on 19 August in the 3-0 win over Blackburn at Fratton Park. James went on to keep clean sheets in each of his first five appearances for the club (and six in his first eight games overall). At the half way stage of the 06/07 season many pundits stated that James had been the best-performing goalkeeper in the Premiership and manager Harry Redknapp called him "by far the best keeper I've worked with". His consistent performances have led to calls for him to be reinstated to the England squad.

In November 2006 James, long known for experimenting with his hairstyle, was mildly ridiculed on the BBC's Match Of The Day programme, for wearing his hair in a style similar to that of the character of Clark Kent, as played by Christopher Reeve in the first four Superman movies. He has explored the field of sport psychology to improve his skills as a goalkeeper; he has claimed that psychology study has helped him become better at saving penalty kicks.

On 22 April 2007, James kept his 142nd Premiership clean sheet, with Portsmouth in a 0-0 draw against his former club Aston Villa, breaking the record of 141 previously held by David Seaman. James has also made the most league appearances of any goalkeeper since the formation of the Premiership (501 as of 02/02/08) over 15 seasons (Nigel Martyn with 372 is the next highest) and conceded the highest number of goals . On 30 January 2008, against Manchester United at Old Trafford, he became the third player (after Gary Speed and Ryan Giggs) to cross the 500 Premiership Game threshold.

On 11 May 2007, James signed a one-year extension on his contract, which will keep him at Fratton Park until 2009.

James then played a role in Portsmouth's victory over Liverpool in the pre-season Barclays Asia Trophy 2007 saving two penalties in the ensuing shoot-out. It was also reported that due to James's consistent form, he had also signed a new contract keeping him at Fratton Park until 2010. After winning the club's player of the season in his debut season at the club, James continued his excellent form in 2007/08. James was an almost ever-present in a side which broke the club record for most clean sheets in a season. He was rewarded with a nomination for the PFA player of the year and was the only goalkeeper and only player outside the "big four" to have been nominated. He was also named Portsmouth's player of the season for the second year in succession.

On 17 May 2008 James finally ended up on the winning side in an FA Cup Final as Portsmouth won 1-0 against Cardiff City at Wembley Stadium. It came 13 years after he won the 1995 League Cup with Liverpool, the first and only other major trophy of his career.

International career

After making one England under-21 appearance whilst at Watford, James made his full debut for Glenn Hoddle's England in a friendly against Mexico on 29 March 1997 as a Liverpool player, a game in which he kept his first international clean sheet as England beat Mexico 2–0 with goals from Teddy Sheringham and James' clubmate Robbie Fowler. For several years, however, he had to play understudy to England's regular keeper, David Seaman. When Seaman was dropped after making a mistake against FYR Macedonia in 2002, James became the new England number 1. He retained his place in the England team even after West Ham's relegation to the First Division in 2003, and was the only player from outside the top flight to win an England cap between 1999 (Michael Gray) and 2007 (David Nugent). He went on to play in all of England's matches in Euro 2004.

However, James had not started a competitive match for England since an error in a 2–2 World Cup qualifying draw against Austria in September 2004, his place being taken by Tottenham's Paul Robinson, until the Switzerland international on 6 February 2008.

James came on as a half time substitute and conceded all four goals in the 4–1 drubbing England suffered at the hands of Denmark during a summer friendly on 17 August 2005 — their worst defeat in 25 years. However, James still remained part of the England squad, and was selected as the second-choice goalkeeper behind Robinson for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, though he did not play.

Along with fellow veterans David Beckham and Sol Campbell, James was dropped from the England squad at the start of Steve McClaren's reign and was not called up during the 2006-07 season. He was eventually recalled for the friendly with Germany on 22 August 2007, over a year since first being omitted. James subsequently played the whole of the second half of England's 2–1 defeat to Germany as a substitute for Robinson. In so doing, James became the first Portsmouth player to play for the senior England team since Mark Hateley in 1984. However, Scott Carson was chosen ahead of both James and Robinson for the decisive Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia on 21 November 2007. England lost the match and Carson was blamed for Croatia's opening goal. Following England's failure to qualify for Euro 2008 McClaren was sacked as England manager and replaced by Fabio Capello. James has since been critical of McClaren's treatment of England's goalkeepers

On 7 February 2008, James was selected as goalkeeper for Capello's first match in charge, a friendly against Switzerland. It was James' first start for England since the friendly with Colombia in May 2005. James has now firmly re-established himself as England's first choice goalkeeper, having started every match during Capello's reign.

Career statistics

Template:Football player statistics 1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |1989-90||rowspan="3"|Watford||rowspan="3"|Second Division||0||0|||||||||||||||| |- |1990-91||46||0|||||||||||||||| |- |1991-92||43||0|||||||||||||||| |- |1992-93||rowspan="7"|Liverpool||rowspan="7"|Premier League||29||0|||||||||||||||| |- |1993-94||14||0|||||||||||||||| |- |1994-95||42||0|||||||||||||||| |- |1995-96||38||0|||||||||||||||| |- |1996-97||38||0|||||||||||||||| |- |1997-98||27||0|||||||||||||||| |- |1998-99||26||0|||||||||||||||| |- |1999-00||rowspan="2"|Aston Villa||rowspan="2"|Premier League||29||0|||||||||||||||| |- |2000-01||38||0|||||||||||||||| |- |2001-02||rowspan="3"|West Ham United||rowspan="3"|Premier League||26||0|||||||||||||||| |- |2002-03||37||0|||||||||||||||| |- |2003-04||27||0|||||||||||||||| |- |2003-04||rowspan="3"|Manchester City||rowspan="3"|Premier League||17||0|||||||||||||||| |- |2004-05||38||0|||||||||||||||| |- |2005-06||38||0|||||||||||||||| |- |2006-07||rowspan="3"|Portsmouth||rowspan="3"|Premier League||38||0|||||||||||||||| |- |2007-08||35||0|||||||||||||||| |- |2008-09|||||||||||||||||||| Template:Football player statistics 3626||0|||||||||||||||| Template:Football player statistics 5626||0|||||||||||||||| |}

Honours

• FA Youth Cup: 1989
• Football League Cup: 1995
• FA Cup: 2008; Runner-up 1996, 2000

Personal life

James was raised in Welwyn Garden City, attending the Sir Frederic Osborn School.

In addition to his footballing career, James has gained attention for modelling assignments, first with Giorgio Armani in 1995, and with H&M in 2005.

During the 2003 close season, James was a guest at the training camp of American football team, the Miami Dolphins, where he worked out with the team and studied their training and conditioning methods. This led to speculation that he is keen on a coaching role after he retires.

In 2005 James visited the southeastern African nation of Malawi to help raise AIDS awareness.. He has since set up The David James Foundation in order to help farmers in Malawi develop better farming practices. The foundation funds the David James Foundation Scholarship at the University of Westminster, which funds a student from Malawi to study for a Master's degree at Westminster. The Charity has been supported this year by the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) . James is also a global ambassador to the Special Olympics and works with Access Sport to provide sports provision in deprived areas of the UK.

Since 2006, James has written a regular column for The Observer newspaper. James is keen on art. He is an artist himself and it plays an important part in his life.

An admitted obsessive, amongst many things James collects Raleigh Choppers, and Action Men. Unlike many footballers, he has turned his back on an extensive car collection and converted his Chrysler 300C diesel estate to run on Rapeseed oil.

Unlike most professional athletes, James is an ex-smoker

James currently lives in Chudleigh, Devon. He has a son and a daughter.

External links

• David James – FIFA competition record (archived)
• Official past players at Liverpoolfc.tv
• Player profile at LFChistory.net
• David James at IMDb
• David James at Soccerbase
• David James index at Sportingheroes.net
• BBC profile
• FootballDatabase provides David James' profile and stats
• Career details
• The David James Foundation
• David James profile - ESPN Soccernet
• Article from Intermix
• James signs for Ho
• David James Goalkeeping Gloves