Portsmouth’s erratic Japanese keeper can’t get near the first team but, reports Justin McCurry, he’s happy plying his trade on English training grounds

Just before last year’s World Cup, a football writer in Japan drew attention to a phobia Yoshikatsu Kawa­guchi shares with Transylvania’s most feared resident. Aside from being a poor joke, it turned out to be a pre­scient commentary on the fortunes of Japan’s erst­while No 1. Less than two years after his £1.7 million move to Portsmouth, Kawaguchi’s fear of crosses has come to symbolise a promising career that is in danger of slipping from his grasp.

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Brighton’s veteran goalkeeper talks Chris Eldergill through the ups and downs of a career spanning 24 years, and explains why he’s happy to carry on playing

At the age of 44 and with a wealth of experience dating back 24 years, Dave Beasant is the oldest play­er in the Football League. The 6ft 4in goalkeeper is cur­rently helping out at Brighton & Hove Albion, hav­ing signed from Wigan back in January. Brighton are Beasant’s 13th club and he has now made more than 750 league appearances during his career. His determination to add to this figure is evident.

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WSC speaks to Watford’s Alec Chamberlain about how the game has changed for goalkeepers during his 20 year career

One of the effects of the blanket TV coverage of football is that every player’s mistakes are highlighted. Are keepers given too hard a time generally?
At the risking of sounding paranoid, I definitely think goalkeepers come under the microscope too often, especially in the Premiership and at international level as well. It’s there for all to see, every Saturday night you watch the Premiership and it’s dissected. Out­field play­ers come under criticism, but the commentators hang, draw and quarter you before it even gets to the expert. The advent of super slo-mo hasn’t done us any favours either because when you see things com­ing in real time I think that’s the only fair way to see whether or not the keeper could have done better. Slow motion makes things looks easier than they were in real time.

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Neil Heath looks at the career to date of a former Nottingham Forest striker, torn between football and rock ’n’ roll and not quite succeeding at either

Paul McGregor was once branded the first “Britpop footballer”. In 1995 he broke into the Nottingham Forest first team and a year later his band, Merc, were brought to the attention of the man who discovered Oasis. There seemed to be no end to his talents. But during the 1997-98 season McGregor was sold to Ply­mouth Argyle, and he now plays for Northampton Town. Was he a victim of turbulent times at the City Ground or did rock ’n’ roll stall his football career?

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It’s taken a while, but African players are finally beginning to thrive in England. Alan Duncan charts the changes in both English and African football that have made this possible

A popular African adage says that “pushing stops at the wall”. For the best part of the last decade, Af­rican players have seen the inexorable push of their compatriots across Europe tending to break down at the formidable wall presented by English football.

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