Chris Kirkland is now goalkeeper coach for Liverpool FC Women
On his Liverpool return as goalkeeper coach of the women’s team, Chris Kirkland talks to Adam Bate about family, coaching and being back home.
Former England goalkeeper Chris Kirkland grew up in Leicestershire, made his Premier League breakthrough at Coventry, spent six years at Wigan and played 91 games for Sheffield Wednesday.
But Liverpool is home and he is now back at the club where he won a Champions League winners’ medal – as the new goalkeeper coach of Liverpool FC Women.
„I’m delighted,“ Kirkland tells Sky Sports. „It is Liverpool at the end of the day. It is my club. I have always supported them and used to go to games at Anfield when I was eight years old. My daughter is at the centre of excellence too, so it all just fits. I’m looking forward to it.“
Kirkland’s daughter Lucy plays for the under-12 side and, predictably, is a goalkeeper herself. The proud father is expecting her to grow to be about 5’11“ and is optimistic about her prospects. „She tells me that she is miles better than me and she is good,“ he says. „I know all parents say that but she is doing well and she’s got a chance.“
Not that Kirkland finds it particularly easy to watch. „I know how my family felt now,“ he adds. „I hate it, it’s so nerve-wracking. She loves it though and I let her get on with it.“
That’s not entirely true because he has already coached Lucy’s local team and clearly has the bug. Kirkland even set up his own goalkeeping academy and has coaching experience in the Football League. „I worked with Michael Brown at Port Vale and at my academy we have been training kids from the age of eight to 27 so there’s a good range there,“ he says.
He has strong views about coaching too. „Awful“ is the word he uses to describe some of the criticism that was aimed at his former Preston team-mate Jordan Pickford during the World Cup in the summer. The England goalkeeper was accused of trying to save a shot by Belgium’s Adnan Januzaj with the ‘wrong’ hand – an assessment he found exasperating.
„There was not one goalkeeper coach or past goalkeeper on the punditry panel,“ he says. „They are not goalkeepers.“ As for the difficult times that Liverpool’s Loris Karius is having to endure following his errors in the Champions League final, there is only empathy. „He is at a great club with Jurgen and all the staff around him,“ he adds. „They will look after him.“
It is this understanding of the game that Neil Redfearn, the newly-appointed Liverpool women’s coach is looking to tap into. Upon Kirkland’s return, Redfearn said that he was „extremely impressed by his knowledge of the women’s game“ and described him as „a magnificent signing for the club“ – 17 years on from his first contract with the Reds.
„I had never envisaged it but Neil rang me and asked me if I fancied it,“ explains Kirkland. „I did. Neil did a great job at Doncaster and they won the second division last year. He has got plenty of experience and so has the squad – I think the average age is 28 – and that’s great.“
The goalkeepers are Becky Flaherty and Anke Preuss, the German signed from Sunderland in the summer. Of course, what would be really interesting is if Kirkland remains in the role long enough for daughter Lucy to break through into the senior squad. Will he ever be on the touchline as she runs out for Liverpool FC Women in a first-team game at Prenton Park?
„That would be nice, even though I think it would be quite difficult because she does not listen to much that I say when it comes to goalkeeping,“ he says with a smile.
Hopefully, the current Liverpool squad will be rather more receptive to Kirkland’s ideas – starting with the small matter of a cup tie against Manchester United on Sunday.
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