Southgate has to dip into reserves for keeper options
WHERE have all the Flowers gone? Gone to foreign replacements nearly every one. The change should be a nasty surprise but there is scant indication that any one who matters is unduly troubled.
Tim Flowers was fortunate to be around before the great upheaval swept in. He kept goal for Blackburn Rovers when they won the Premier League, and for six other clubs.
If Flowers and his contemporaries were still playing today there would be few like them because the market has a whole new set of values.
Its only benchmark is excellence. And British performers do the best they can to make an impact week by week - but the picture is not impressive.
By comparison with outfield players, foreign goalkeepers come cheap. A world record £71.6m changed hands when Kepa Arrizabalaga moved from Athletic Bilbao to Chelsea.
But he was merely the stand-out figure in a popular trend. Dean Henderson has earned a place in Gareth Southgate’s notebook but still plays second fiddle to the Spaniard, David De Gea at Old Trafford.
At Manchester City, where Joe Hart was once England’s number one, Ederson Santana de Moraes is now the automatic choice.
Where Brazilian keepers were previously seen as agile but inconsistent, today they are sought after in many countries.
Not too far back in Arsenal’s history is George Swindin, a keeper who became manager.
Currently, the Gunners have a Spanish manager who can call upon an Estonian goalkeeper. Similar situations can be found throughout the Premier League.
There is Hugo Lloris at Tottenham Hotspur, a World Cup winner with France. Lucas Fabianski, the Poland international, is firmly entrenched at West Ham United.
During his era when the Liverpool boot room presided over by Bill Shankly was famous for the smooth production line that turned out new recruits according to demand, goalkeepers never caused a ripple of apprehension.
But dynasties do not endure for ever. Where Shanks and his successors dispensed hospitality from an old tin kettle, science now prevails.
The modern ethos comes down from Borussia Dortmund. Jurgen Klopp has no sentimental nostalgia for the past. He wants the best, no matter the nationality.
This might be thought to be no more than evidence of a global trend spread more or less evenly, developing all the time, but that is not the case.
Look for British keepers in the top flight elsewhere and you will look in vain.
If there is a generation of successors to Peter Bonetti, Ray Clemence and Peter Shilton, it has not yet risen to the top.
There is no obvious explanation. The academies are nursing potential talent that is brought to them, but the net outcome still falls short. Apparently there are too many content to take employment as coaches.
The problem may even go down into the juniors. What is the quality of instruction and encouragement at grassroots?
Gareth Southgate has always insisted that he wants England contenders to be playing at the top level. Nevertheless he is obliged to call upon a Manchester United reserve.
If we do not turn out topquality coaches there can be no top-quality teams. Someone somewhere should be applying themselves to finding a solution as soon as possible.
The European Championships are almost upon us and it is too late for infrastructure to take any effect there. But there will be life beyond Southgate who deserves to leave behind a worthy legacy for his successor.