Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Foreign legion part in Terrors’
THE final instalment of the Tele’s Greatest Goalies series brings us to the Craig Levein and Peter Houston era at Dundee United.
The most-successful time for the Tangerines since Jim McLean hung up his manager’s coat brought the club’s second Scottish Cup victory and three successive seasons in Europe.
Both Levein and Houston opted for non-Scots between the sticks, so tonight the Tele takes a close look at United’s foreign legion.
Lukasz Zaluska
Levein took the helm at Tannadice in October 2006 when Derek Stillie was United’s goalkeeper of choice. The Scot left the club the following summer to pursue a career in English law while signing for Gillingham.
That saw Zaluska brought in as his replacement from Korona Kielce.
Unfortunately, he broke his foot and had to wait until the following January to make his debut.
Once recovered and in the team, Zaluska showed his ability as a quality shot-stopper, helping United to the League Cup Final in 2008 where he saved from Lee McCulloch in the penalty shoot-out but couldn’t prevent Rangers lifting the cup.
Eventually, Zaluska left for Celtic at the end of the 2008/09 season and now plays for Wisla Krakow in his native Poland.
Grzegorz Szamotulski
A brief but eventful Tannadice career saw Szamotulski brought in as cover for his injured compatriot Zaluska for the first half of the 2007/08 season.
Nicknamed “the Monk” by fans for his resemblance to Jason Statham’s character in the film Mean Machine, Szamotulski’s agility brought rave reviews from Arabs but he left after six months when turning down an offer from the club.
Nicky Weaver
Stretching the foreign legion tag a little, Englishman Weaver signed a short-term deal at Tannadice in 2009 in Houston’s first succeeding Levein.
Immediately it was clear why he had played more than 200 matches for Manchester City as they moved up from the Second Division to the Premiership.
Impressive reactions and a calmness around the box, United were sad to see him depart after his six-month deal came to an end in January 2010. full season after
Dusan Pernis
Slovakia international Pernis had