Goalkeepers' Union Goalkeepers' Union

Following his retirement from professional football in 2018, Adam Bartlett's ascent in the world of goalkeeper coaching has been rather rapid.

Since officially taking the reins as Head of Goalkeeping at Newcastle United at the beginning of the 2022-23 season, he's overseen the arrival of Nick Pope, managed an unexpected scenario of having to play No3 Loris Karius - a man who hadn't started a competitive fixture for 20 months - in the EFL Cup Final with Manchester United, and contributed to his hometown club returning to the Champions League.

Over a spot of premium grub at Darsley Park, he talks us through how he grasped an opportunity and continued to evolve a department he hopes will soon be close to unrivalled in the Premier League.

Player of the Season is where we begin this week.

How many goalkeepers, if any, were handed awards at EFL end-of-campaign shindigs this term?

In the Premier League (where awards are yet to be handed out) decisions were made in favour of David Raya and Dean Henderson, but against Mark Travers. We discuss whether or not each one was correct.

The Championship's final day saw clean sheets and subsequent survival for Mike Cooper, James Beadle and Aynsley Pears at Plymouth, Sheffield Wednesday and Blackburn respectively, while Grant Smith leaps into League Two with promoted Bromley.

A word on Tim Howard, too, who this week gained entry into the US National Soccer Hall of Fame.

This week's pod comes unexpectedly live from the home of Coventry City (it'll all make sense inside the opening five minutes).

In the Premier League, much has been discussed about Tottenham's need for a defensive set-piece coach. Richard Lee, however, isn't so sure. Neither was he convinced Cody Gakpo should have been allowed to tap into an empty after confusion reigned between Alphonse Areola and referee Anthony Taylor in West Ham's draw with Liverpool.

Elsewhere, Seny Dieng is finishing a disruptive campaign strongly at Middlesbrough, Russell Martin's decision to play Alex McCarthy over Joe Lumley at Southampton is discussed and, as tends to be standard practice on the final day of the league season, a number of understudies were given some much-needed minutes - and thus a mention on this very podcast.

More importantly, the Clean Sheet Club King of 2023-24 is revealed.

It is 200 up for GKU and Between the Sticks. A double century. One more game than Richard Lee managed in his career.

To celebrate, we've simply produced a standard episode you've grown accustomed to listening to over the past few years.

In it, we discuss Aro Muric's performance in Burnley's romp of Sheffield United, while also running the rule over his opposite number in that clash, Ivo Grbic. An analysis of the "Ic's", if you will.

Jordan Pickford continues to keep us all entertained with his on-field antics in a huge win for Everton over Nottingham Forest, while Andre Onana and Brad Collins shared saves in a whopper of an FA Cup Semi Final between Manchester United and Coventry.

Elsewhere, Keeper Capers goes into overdrive: Dean Henderson, Freddie Woodman, Aynsley Pears and Vicente Reyes all blessed with the jingle this weekend.

The Goalkeeper Assist klaxon, meanwhile, is sounded for Jackson Smith of Walsall.

Following a mini-break during the international and Easter interludes, GKU is back as per to cover all the key action as Storm Kathleen wreaked havoc with goalkeeping conditions over the weekend.

Jose Sa was caught out direct from a James Ward-Prowse corner, Franco Ravizzoli saw a cross float over his head in the dying embers of the EFL Trophy Final and Thimothee Lo-Tutala launched airmail for Doncaster's opener in a comprehensive win at Morecambe.

Elsewhere, we mark Lukasz Fabianski's 18th substitute involvement, Stefan Ortega's silky skills at Selhurst Park and Performance of the Weekend contenders from Max O'Leary, Luca Ashby-Hammond and Jackson Smith of Bristol City, Notts County and Walsall respectively.

Very rarely can a subject of interviews on this podcast boast a career involving anything else other than "goalkeeper" or "goalkeeper coach".

For Ian Feuer, however, vocations such as actor, stuntman, DJ and even part-time cook come into the mix.

There's also the fact he was introduced to goalkeeping via the nephew of a notorious Vegas mobster, he's son to a musical maestro who worked closely with Elvis Presley and sister to the one-time wife of Hollywood star Mickey Rourke.

At 6ft 7in, he's the tallest goalkeeper to have featured in MLS and back in 1994 became the first US stopper to journey into the Premier League. Two years prior to that, he was involved in the first-ever competitive fixture to implement the backpass rule.

This is the story of goalkeeping's Forrest Gump.