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davieG

Kevin Poole Retires

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Posted

the save he made in the play-off semi final 1st leg against stoke was up there with anything i've seen live. can't remember who it was from, but i was sure he'd scored.

:thumbup: Agreed. Fantastic save.

It was a header from Graham Potter I think. Had goal written all over it, until Poole somehow got a hand to it.

Posted

Kevin Poooole!

Awsome goal keeper for our club. Never forget Palace away about 15 years ago when he had blood pissing from his face and carried on till the end and if i remember right it happened not long into the first half.

Unsung LCFC Legend.

Posted

Wasn't he made player of the season once and he dropped the glass trophy when it was presented.

yup. I remember that too.

lol

  • 1 year later...
Posted

the save he made in the play-off semi final 1st leg against stoke was up there with anything i've seen live. can't remember who it was from, but i was sure he'd scored.

That was a great save! I always thought it was a Kevin Keen header though? Could be wrong??
Posted

That was a great save! I always thought it was a Kevin Keen header though? Could be wrong??

 

Graham Potter. And yeah...it had "goal" written all over it. An incredible save

Posted

A couple of weeks back The Fox editorial team travelled less than 30 miles up the A511 to Burton-on-Trent and pulled up in the car park of possibly the most pristine football ground we had ever seen.

Although Burton Albion left Eton Park for the Pirelli Stadium eight years ago, it is very well looked after and still looks brand new.

 
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Being so close to Leicester the League Two club does have a bit of a City influence. Brewers' manager Gary Rowett was Peter Taylor's first (and, as things turned out, best) signing for City in the days when we could happily splash out £3million on a right-back.

We also get to meet Blue Army cult-hero Mickey Whitlow – the only man who played in every one of City's dozen play-off games in the 1990s – in his Academy office. He still very much has that wicked gleam in his eye and over a handshake he promises us a very lively future interview.

 

But we are here to see another former City favourite, who is now Albion's goalkeeping coach.Kevin Poole greets us in reception, we shake the hand that made that impossible save from Bruce Dyer in the 1996 play-off final against Crystal Palace, a potential goal that could have altered the club's course of history and deprived us of a golden age.

Settled in an executive box overlooking a perfect playing surface, we pick over what, incredibly, turned into a 30-year career.

Shown the door at Villa – the club he supported as a boy – by Graham Taylor who thought he was too short to make it as a keeper; he moved to Middlesbrough with Brian Little, before following him down to Leicester in 1991.

Poole said: "When Brian Little took over at Leicester he brought me straight down to join him. I had my chance straight away because Carl Muggleton was suspended for the first three or four games.

"I established myself and played most of that first season."

During his five seasons at Filbert Street, Poole faced fierce competition for the keeper's jersey from Carl Muggleton, Gavin Ward and Russell Hoult, but it always seemed to be Pooley who ended up as first choice after any period of chop and change.

He also saw off the lanky legend (not for the right reasons) Zeljko Kalac, brought in by Mark McGhee in 1995. "He just said 'I want to freshen things up and I'm going to give him a game.'

"I think he played two games didn't he? At West Brom, in the league, and Bolton, in the League Cup.

"Then he had to come crawling back to me and say 'sorry, I've done the wrong thing'.

"He was good enough to apologise to me."

Spider Kalac, and the height issue, did come back to haunt him at Wembley in 1996 when City and Palace were deadlocked at 1-1 and a penalty shoot-out loomed.

Martin O'Neill chose to bring on the goal-filling Aussie, a decision that devasted Poole – for all of 30 seconds before Stevie Claridge's goal.

As City re-entered the Premier League, the No.1 jersey was finally wrestled off Kevin, by Kasey Keller, who was signed two days before the start of the 1996-97 season. Although he managed seven Premier League appearances when Keller was on US duty, it proved to be his last season at Leicester. However, it was far from the end of his story.

Sitting on the bench for Burton at the age of 48 had somewhat proved Graham Taylor wrong.

The complete interview will appear in the next issue of The Fox to subscribe send £16 to The Fox, PO Box 2, Cosby, Leicester, LE9 1ZZ or Paypal: [email protected]

  • 1 month later...
Posted

Probably one of the finest pro's the game has ever had. Was never the best keeper we ever had but was so reliable. Generally went unnoticed too. Will never forget the 96 play off win it still brings a lump to my throat.

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