Ben Foster has provided some insight into the typical procedures that would be followed in order to negotiate a contract for a second-choice goalkeeper in comparison to an outfield player.
Following a brief stint at Wrexham, the 41-year-old football player made the announcement that he would be retiring from professional football in 2023. During his 23-year career, he played for Manchester United, Birmingham City, West Brom, and Watford.
In total, he participated in 390 games in the Premier League, which means that only eight other goalkeepers have accomplished the same feat of playing more games in the competition.
It was during the 2006–2007 season that he made his debut in the Premier League of England with Watford. Subsequently, Manchester United made him their second-choice goalkeeper, behind the more experienced Edwin van der Sar.
After more than 15 years, the topic of second-choice goalkeepers was brought up in a conversation with Dave Watson, who had previously served as the goalkeeper coach for England. The conversation took place on the popular podcast Fozcast.
As a second-choice goalkeeper for a club, Foster discussed the intricacies involved in the process of negotiating a contract with the club.
“When you’re a number two goalkeeper, for example, it would be different [to a normal contract],” he explained to reporters.
“There would be a significant increase in the emphasis placed on incentives. The basic wage is not going to be as high as the goalkeeper for the first team, but if he plays, his appearance fee will be significantly higher than it would be otherwise.
One thing I can say with absolute certainty is that he is going to be receiving a bonus of some kind if he is sitting on the bench in the Premier League. Just for sitting on the bench, that’s a lot of money. You are required to include that provision in your contract if you are a substitute goalie.
He continued by saying, “The outfield will receive something, but a [second choice] goalkeeper will receive more because he is aware that his job on that day – and for the majority of the season – will be sitting on the bench.” It is extremely unlikely that you will be able to make it onto the field.
On the podcast, Foster frequently discusses his previous clubs, and in the most recent episode, he discussed how he was one of the first goalkeepers to use a modern-day penalty hack during the League Cup final in 2009.
Young Foster was awarded the Man of the Match award while he was playing for Manchester United against Spurs. The game ended in a scoreless draw, but Foster was instrumental in his team’s victory on penalties, which ultimately led to the team’s victory.
This was the first time that the now-retired goalkeeper had used the “famous iPod” as a tool to assist him in predicting where certain penalty takers would place their spot kicks. He revealed this information during the shootout.
“So basically yeah, Steely the goalkeeper coach he basically had them all on the iPod and he was showing me which way they all go,” he stated during the Fozcast interview.
Therefore, the first penalty that I saved was Jamie O’Hara. The clips of Jamie O’Hara were telling me that he was going to put it to my left, so I made the save. That’s it.
After that, I believe it was David Bentley who made the mistake, but our young men were so brilliant that it seemed as though we were ruthless. Despite the fact that we had Anderson, Ryan Giggs, and Carlos Tevez finishing off penalties, Heurelho Gomes, who was playing goal for Spurs, did not have a second chance.
