Legendary Arsenal goalkeeper David Seaman will be inducted into the National Football Museum’s Hall of Fame in October, a true testament to the Englishman’s glittering career.
Seaman grew up in Rotherham and played for his boyhood club, Leeds United before establishing himself at Peterborough United and Birmingham City. After four year at Queens Park Rangers, then Arsenal manager George Graham, paid a British record of £1.3 million fee for the shot-stopper in 1990 – a club that Seaman made over 150 appearances for over the course of four years.
The signing of Seaman did not disappoint, he went on to keep 237 clean sheets in 564 appearances for ‘The Arsenal’. During that time he won three league titles and four FA Cups, which includes the famous ’98 and ’02 doubles, as well as the European Cup Winners Cup in 1994.
Widely regarded as Arsenal’s greatest ever keeper, Seaman made his first international appearance in 1988 and broke a record by appearing for his country for 15 consecutive years. This endeavour has only been matched by Rio Ferdinand since. With 75 caps for England, Seaman is England’s second most capped goalie of all time, only falling short of a certain Peter Shilton.
Seaman will always be remembered for pulling off arguably the greatest save in the history of the game against Sheffield United in the 2003 FA Cup semi-final, acrobatically clawing the ball away from the goal-line. Arsenal went on to win the game 1-0 and as all great goalkeepers do, Seaman truly came up with the goods in Arsenal’s time of need.
YouTube: David Seaman’s incredible FA Cup save | From The Archive
An ever-present and all round reliable figure at Highbury, this is a well deserved award for one of Arsenal’s all time greats.
