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John Carver talks about his England find that Newcastle let slip away…

8 years ago
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John Carver might not have been snapped up yet but in the last eight months he has become a regular in the media.

His latest TV appearance saw him as a guest on MOTD 2 extra and he had an interesting tale to tell.

John Carver says it was he who was responsible for signing £10m keeper Fraser Forster when he signed for Newcastle United.

Carver talks about how he needed another goalkeeper for the youth team as cover, when Academy Director under Graeme Souness, and sent out scouts to look for one.

Fraser Forster being found at the rugby playing Royal Grammar School, even though John Carver claims ‘he couldn’t catch the ball’ when he first arrived at St James Park.

The Geordie keeper doesn’t come from your typical football player background, with his father being a judge.

Carver though says that Fraser Forster progressed very quickly and it was great to see.

Forster was outstanding last year for Southampton until his injury last season and has now kept six clean sheets in six matches on his return to first team action.

The one bit of the story that John Carver has missed out is where he was part of the management team at Newcastle, as assistant to Alan Pardew, that decided to not give Fraser Forster a single first team start and then cash in on him for a give away £2m to Celtic.

The keeper going on to sign for Southampton for £10m (United received another couple of million as part of sell-on clause) and play for England, the Geordie goalkeeper surely worth £20m+ these days.

John Carver speaking on MOTD 2 Extra about Fraser Forster:

“I actually signed him!!!

“When Graeme Souness came to Newcastle, I became the academy director.

“We were playing a youth cup match, and I didn’t have a reserve goalkeeper, so I told the scouts – ‘Go out and find me a goalkeeper’ .

“A guy called Jimmy Blackhall went to the Royal Grammar School, a rugby school – not a football one, and come across Fraser.

“When he came in he couldn’t catch the ball, his co-ordination was all over the place but he has developed into one of the best goalkeepers in the country – from rags to riches.

“He wasn’t 14 or 15, he was about 17 or 18, when he came to the football club, so a late developer.

“He was given the opportunity and now he has been a huge factor in Southampton’s success over the last four or five weeks.

“He has got such a great personality and he is a very intelligent boy with a wonderful family, so we knew he would pick things up quickly.

“He did a lot of work with the goalkeeping coach and we have seen him progress very, very quickly – great to see.”

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