Tony Godden RIP- The Man who Lived His Dream.

The Albion News was always the first thing I purchased after I arrived at The Shrine’, taking a bus from New Street Station, but one part of the essential Baggies match day almanac, in the late 1970’s simply wasn’t news.

There was no need to look at the team list.

The defensive core.

Set in stone.

If you are of a certain age, you just knew.

To recite those five defensive names was as simple as breathing.

Gooden.

Batson.

Statham.

Wile.

Robertson.

A quintet of differing characters and strengths gave such an assurance, of the type you simply never, ever doubted.

Defensive cohesion isn't judged on selection for the full national team, between these five Baggies stalwarts, only Statham was capped.

A paltry three times.

Defence isn’t built on caps, but on understanding, balance, trust and pure unity.

If the collective group only misses seven games in a whole season, dependability is their watchword.

And yesterday, in that eternal game of life, the first of that esteemed group left us, with the almost unfeasible death of Tony Godden.

At just 70 years old.

Unfeasible, as he seemed as unbreakable as the run of games he had for The Albion.

228 Not Out.

It was almost fate that a bubbly, confident, athletic, Kent kid would become Albion’s keeper at the dawn of the golden age of most Albion fans of people my age?

An injury to a ‘bionic finger’, gave TG his first Albion appearance, [ cannot get a more late 1970’s reference to term than John Osborne’s digital moniker], TG first took the sticks away to Spurs in March 1977, with another fellow debutant Laurie Cunningham.

How apt?

Two bookends in the match programme of our eternal, 'Magnificent Eleven'.

And of course we won and Laurie excelled.

And of course Tony kept a clean sheet.

Tony had a visual suited perfectly to the times, a dashing smile, a layered blonde bouffant, a happy go lucky cadence and a kit that accentuated his natural athleticism.

Ossie was simply Ossie.

An excellent keeper, with a lot less concern of sartorial elegance, a self proclaimed nervous character who occasionally needed a cigarette to calm his nerves.

In game.

TG preferred his half time 'light'.

TG exuded such inner confidence, few players I can honestly recall at The Albion ever displayed more of a core belief of truly living their dream.

Here was a lad who’d played locally at non-league, signed to a then Division 2 club, taken the traditional on loan route, and competed against three other talented Baggie keepers.

Biding his time, until chance knocked on his door.

And isn’t life all about taking your chances, and maximizing your opportunity?

The following season, Tony took the gloves for the opening salvo and embarked on his seemingly unbreakable WBA appearance run.

Looking back, it seems that TG had his own style of goalkeeping shirt that was his very own?

Whether in home green or in the inimitable red away shirt, the perfect counter balance to the glorious yellow and green stripes weaving their magic in front of him.

Gooden’s shirt collar lapped the edge of his curly, manicured locks, the proud WBA emblem, embroidered lovingly above his heart.

The buoyancy of Tony’s hair may well have added an extra inch to his height, size may matter, if only an illusion to the truth.

This classic kit, prior to the sponsorships of recent decades, sullying the aesthetic of the classic shirts of yesteryear.

Godden entered the pitch second, always faithfully behind his skipper, voice and authority at the back, John Wile, looking suspiciously more than two inches shorter than the Albion on 6ft 2inches field leader.

But it was always TG’s agility rather than physical attributes that made him stand out.

The walk out of the tunnel was always a prelude to the sprint to the goalposts, with the innocent abandon of a youngster on a Sunday morning, a bounce in the step rather than a stride, and then the ceremonial stud thumping on each post, the clang clearly audible to The Brummie Road and beyond.

The final ritual for TG were several touches of the crossbar, each leap being of gleeful ease, again the movements reminiscent of a kid in love with the game..

And in essence that was Godden in a nutshell.

Absolutely in love with the game and his situation.

The absolute gratification for Godden was to be part of this collective.

Part of this experience.

An absolute key part,

Tony seemed so grateful, a proud man, truly, truly living the dream.

Of course ask any Albion fan who saw TG regularly, when asked, we’d respond almost as one, Godden’s appetite for keeping was satiated by shot stopping, a natural agility in synch' with his hero as a kid back in Kent.

Tony, as a Chelsea fan, idolized Peter Bonetti.

It's pretty easy to see how his role model became the prototype keeper for TG to become?

Another undersized custodian of the sticks, Bonetti, at just 5’ 10’ and without the boost that a full head of hair might create.

But save, Bonetti was brilliant at, fast, feline reflexes often compensate for lack of height.

TG saw shot stopping almost akin with romanticism, the more agile the save the more rewarding it seemed to be.

To him.

And to us.

There was a distinct simile with his close friend, Cyrille Regis, who seemingly would only score the spectacular, likewise Godden enjoyed the stage and dealt in the hard currency of the acrobatic.

And the dramatic.

Those goals and saves simply resonate more, even almost 50 years later.

They simply stick in your mind.

And conscience.

Watching Godden, it was the prodigious leap he could make from a relatively small frame that stood out, a flying, reactive presence, saving the unsavable, the archetypal TG tipping the ball around the post for a corner.

Add in a couple of sideways rolls to accentuate the movement.

And the moment.

But corners and crosses were the nemesis we all feared but also accepted when balanced against TG’s strengths.

As did the defence.

The instructions were simple to Tony delivered from his authoritative centre back pair, 

“You stay on the line, we’ll deal with it.” 

Ask yourself, would you argue with the advice of Messers Wile and Robertson?

As a fan, corners still made me nervous, and standing in The Brummie Rd, you had a first hand view to occasional goalkeeping anarchy.

TG would sometimes commit and get caught in no mans land, you had to hope, and more often hope would be just enough, our defenders or Robbo would deal with the situation.

Of course mistakes were made, did TG ever live down the Dalglish error??

The price of being a keeper is every error is magnified hugely, and Godden on that day, was simply mugged by a genius of a footballer..

 But whether it was the subtle message of the gallows humour of being presented with  ‘wing mirrors’, or the voices of thousands of Baggies ‘reminding’ Tone to look behind him?

It was a case of, once bitten twice shy, and my memory is of TG hugging the ball with the iron grip of a dad keeping his kid from danger, and doing his green cross code in triplicate, before he placed the ball on the ground.

And as the brilliant Baggies historian, Dave Bowler, evocatively and perfectly put, 

‘Bowling the ball out into the path of Derek Statham’.

I and hopefully you can see it now..

As fans we all have our own takes on TG, whether his heroics on loan spells in pivotal games for example at both Luton Town or Chelsea, plus so many other clubs have expressed sorrow and shock over TG’s untimely death..

We all age, and truly the more we age, the more we reminisce…

Tony Godden fitted so perfectly in the DNA of that vintage Baggies team.

Much loved by team mates and fans alike, TG will always be remembered for that smile, the twinkle in his eyes, his propensity to make great saves, and more than anything living his dream.

And ours.

A Baggie forever..

RIP.