Goram played Eric Cantona at on-field poker – and won
John Brown was witness to Andy Goram’s “genius” as a Rangers teammate through the prime seasons of a remarkable goalkeeping career.
You would think it impossible to sift through the catalogue of super saves to unearth one truly stand-out moment.
But there was an occasion that, for Bomber, lives forever in the mind’s eye for its significance in Rangers history.
It was from the 1992 Battle of Britain against Leeds United, the save that denied the English champions an early second-leg lead through Eric Cantona.
That laid the foundations for Mark Hateley and Ally Mccoist to plunder a famous away win in front of a partisan all- home crowd, and send Rangers on a journey that stopped just short of the European Cup Final.
“Andy got us into the firstfirst- ever Champions League and allmost to the final,” said Brown.
“There are certain times in your career that you alwayss look back on, and one is Cantona (inset) versus The Goalie after two minutes at Elland Road.
“Andy stays up, standss doesn’t up. Like show a poker his hand. player, He h hel et Cantona make the decisi on to shoot before he moves. He saves.
“We go up the park, and Mark Hateley scores the first goal. That was massive for us.
“I also remember a night at Pittodrie in February, 1993, and Aberdeen were our closest rivals at the time.
“The Goalie made save after save, and we won 1-0, Hateley scoring again. Huge for us going on to win the league.
“There are countless other occasions, of course, breaking Tommy Burns’s heart, as he famously said.
“Any Celtic fan would have said at the time that they wished they had Andy Goram in goal for them. He’d have made an average team very good.”
Brown was on hand to give his friend comfort and company in the final weeks of his life, and he was by Goram’s bedside yesterday as he passed away at the age of 58.
Last night he recalled the freakish talent that made a 5ft 10in keeper one of the best on the planet.
He said: “Andy Goram was just a genius – the master of the technical and positional side of goalkeeping that made up for his relative lack of height.
“At the time of that Champions League run in 1992, I think he’d go down as one of the best in the world.
“I remember everyone talking about Peter Schmeichel at Manchester United, but he’d throw in the odd goal now and again.
“Meanwhile, for us, The Goalie was producing it against Rudi Voller, Alen Boksic, Gianluca Vialli, and so many great European strikers.
“Time after time, he was able to pull off saves that people couldn’t believe.
“Alan Rough was up to see him recently. He put his hand to The Goalie’s hand, and Andy’s fingers were just over an inch longer than Alan’s.
“He was small for a goalie, but Andy would get to things, the size of his hands helping.
“It was interesting to hear Roughie’s take on how good a goalie Andy was, iveni thhat he was one of the most decoorated Scotland No. 1s of alll time, and went to three Wworld Cups.”
Goram joined Rangers from Hibernian for £ 1- million in 1991 as a replacement for England kkeeper, Chris Woods.
He recovered from a couuple of dodgy moments to emergge one of the pillars of the Nine-in-a-row era.
“After his first month at the club, when he had a couple of wobbles, he seriously upped his game and very rarely ever made a mistake,” recalled Brown.
“He ran out like a gladiator. He took pride in being the last line of our defence.
“Even when the teams were picked for training, you were desperate to have Andy Goram as your keeper.
“You’d have a 95% chance of winning with him – and those games were as competitive as Saturday matches!
“He went for every challenge, every ball, and hated getting beat at dominos or cards on the bus.
“When he was injured, you’d never see him. He wouldn’t be in the gym, he’d just disappear, and wouldn’t show up for days on end.
“He hated being injured, didn’t want to go to games, and didn’t want to be about the place.
“Andy Goram just wanted to play.”