Legend of the Flying Pig: Farewell to iconic goalkeeper Andy Gouram

He was a drinker, addicted to gambling, hot-tempered and unpredictable, suffered from a mild version of schizophrenia, and was also simply too short.

All this did not stop Goram from becoming one of the greatest goalkeepers in the history of Rangers and Scotland

Michael Yochin

03/07/2022

Sunday, 03 July 2022, 12:30

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Ticket: Today's summary clip, 3.7 (Sports 1)

Brian Laudrup was Andy Goram's best friend on the Rangers squad, but one bright day in October 1996 the goalkeeper was ready to eat the Danish star in the locker room.

It was in a game against Hibernian, and when the Blues got a penalty, Oderop went to the spot in place of the regular kicker Eli McQuest.

Goram galloped up to the halfway line and screamed to leave the ball in favor of the scorer - but in vain.

Laudrup kicked to the crossbar, the referee ordered a repeat performance due to players entering the field, and the second attempt top Jim Layton.

"Things like that happen, there's nothing to do," the Dane said calmly to his friend who almost punched him in the half.

He did not know the real cause of the tantrum.

Goram simply gambled on a very handsome sum for McQuest to score the first goal of the game.

Such stories abound about Goram.

The announcement of his death at just 58 yesterday shocked Scotland despite being expected - it was already announced a month ago that the legendary goalkeeper is suffering from terminal cancer and has not much time left to live.

It is still astonishing that in the public consciousness it is difficult to imagine a person more alive than their gourmet.

It was said of him that the variety of events he experienced were sufficient for a number of other people as well.

He was addicted to alcohol, addicted to gambling, created scandals wherever he went, angered everyone, but at the same time charismatic, dominant, warm and embracing - and also an exceptionally accomplished athlete who enjoyed making everyone who doubted him eat his hat with lots of salt.

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He is considered one of the greatest Scottish goalkeepers of all time, even though he has represented the team only 43 times.

In the late 1990s, Rangers fans voted him the club's best goalkeeper in the 20th century.

In the eyes of many commentators, he was the most brilliant signing of manager Walter Smith at the club.

And quite ironically, all this was quite coincidental - he was not supposed to come to the Rangers, was not expected to represent Scotland, and in the opinion of quite a few coaches did not deserve to be a goalkeeper at all.

His father, Luis Goram, was certainly a Scottish from Edinburgh, and even a goalkeeper, but his career took him to England, he spent several years in Barry, a town north of Manchester to Manchester, married an English woman - and son Andy grew up as a die-hard Manchester United fan .

Naturally, he wanted to continue the family legacy and stand between the beams, but was too low.

Even in his adulthood, Goram reached only 181 centimeters, and in his youth a little growth was not satisfactory to say the least for West Bromwich's academics who unequivocally informed him that he had no future in football.

The young man did not give up, went to Oldham who then played in the second division, and became its first goalkeeper already at the age of 17. The spectacular instincts on the goal line, the courage to go out for strikers and determination caught the eye, and in 1983 Goram was called up to England's youth squad.

When the first-choice goalkeeper was injured, Gouram was supposed to make the debut, but coach Howard Wilkinson got cold feet.

"He's just too short, I can not let him play," he declared - and so ended his international career in England uniform before it began.

Two years later, his career in Scotland began because Alex Ferguson invited him to the squad, then also took him to the 1986 World Cup in Mexico as a third goalkeeper.

Did not imagine the consequences.

Alex Ferguson in 1986 (Photo: GettyImages, Rusty Cheyne)

Fergie, who at the time played Rangers as a striker and sympathized with the club, did not imagine the glorious consequences of this innocent move.

Encouraged by publicity in Scotland in 1987 and determined to improve his chances of becoming the club's leading scorer, Goram decided to leave Oldham and move to play in the Scottish league in the Hibernian uniform.

His wife, who worked in Manchester and really did not want to change her life, was surprised and issued an ultimatum: "If you move, we are divorcing."

Goram chose to divorce because football has always been his first priority.

On the green side of Edinburgh he received the captaincy film and became a revered actor, and in 1991 the surprising promotion came to Glasgow.

The Rangers had a formidable goalkeeper in the form of Chris Wood, but he had one small problem with him - he was English.

In fact, the Ibrooks stands were very proud to have brought the England goalkeeper north, but Smith aspired to succeed in the European arena, and in the UEFA regulations there was a restriction of 3 foreigners. He was looking for a Scottish goalkeeper, and the only one who met the requirements was Goram. "The boss was open with me.

"Without the foreigner limit, I would never have reached the Rangers," the goalkeeper later said. "Smith had only one main requirement - to stop playing cricket.

The task of convincing his new friends and fans that he is a fitting successor to his predecessor was not simple, but Goram also met this challenge.

When he signed for Glasgow, the Rangers counted three championships in a row, and the goal was clear even then - to win six more times in a row to equal Celtic's record.

and so it was.

With the insane rescues, the marvelous leaps and the uncontrollable urge to win, Goram was an integral part of this dizzying success.

Low or not, he was able to reach every ball, and his seemingly unsportsmanlike build was deceptive.

That's why the fans gave him the excellent nickname "The Flying Pig", and Goram actually liked him very much.

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So the pig flew in and especially frustrated the Celtic strikers in the derby games - so much so that green-and-white manager Tommy Burns once said: "On my tombstone they will write that Andy Goram broke my heart."

Thanks to this ability, the club was willing to forgive him for everything - and there were many deeds that would cause a player on another level to be fired.

In fact, in 1994 even Smith's patience did not last for some time, and Goram was placed on the transfer list after being late for a flight because he drank too much.

In the end, it too is forgotten.

How can one be angry at a goalkeeper who almost brought the club to a historic appearance in the 1993 Champions League final?

On the way there, by the way, Rangers also knocked out Leeds who was coached by Wilkinson.

"Do you still think I'm too short?"

Goram asked him.

In those days, Goram even ousted Jim Layton from the squad, and was Scotland's first goalkeeper in Euro 92 and Euro 96, where he kept a clean sheet against the Netherlands and Switzerland, but conceded one of the most spectacular goals in factory history at the feet of his Rangers teammate Paul Gascoigne.

Two years later, he also dreamed of shining for the first time in his life as the first goalkeeper in the World Cup, but discovered that Layton was preferred over him - and immediately retired from the team by slamming a door.

Emotional acts of this kind were very typical of Goram.

For example, he chose to stay away from the Rangers and go on holiday in Northern Ireland when he was injured towards the end of the 1996/97 season, in which the team was supposed to equal Celtic's famous record with a ninth consecutive championship.

He felt he could not stand the fact that he was not on the grass - and the celebrations of his friends he saw from the pub in Belfast.

In retrospect he did not forgive himself, nor did he fully understand his motives.

And this was no exception - the goalkeeper often surprised himself with his strange actions.

He even went for a psychiatric diagnosis during his Rangers career, and was diagnosed with schizophrenia in a relatively mild version.

When the rumors spread, Celtic fans enjoyed singing to him at every derby: "Andy Goram has only two."

Unique.

Andy Guram (Photo: GettyImages, Rusty Cheyne)

He was just one, of course - unique and special.

Rangers fans cried when it was decided in 1998, as a result of a loss in the championship, to make a very big revolution in the squad, to leave most of the veterans, including Guram who was already 34. The move was signed by the new Dutch coach Dick Advocate, With the dismissed goalkeeper.

Gouram wrote about this in an autobiography in his direct style: "The name Dick shocked him greatly."

He parted ways with Ibrooks after 260 games in seven seasons, during which he kept a clean sheet 107 times.

This was supposed to be the end, when Goram wandered between different small clubs, but fate summoned him for another exciting adventure, and this time too Ferguson was responsible for it.

In light of the injuries of Fabian Bartz and Raymond van der Hau in the spring of 2001, the Scottish manager recalled his former apprentice, asking him to join Manchester United on loan until the end of the season.

Goram initially thought it was a hoax and slammed the phone down, but Fergie called his wife and said, "Tell the fat bastard he has 10 seconds and think and say yes or no."

Goram said yes, twice wearing the team uniform that was his whole world as a child, and closed a circle perfectly.

His resume even states that he won the English Championship that season.

That’s why Red Devils fans are also mourning his death now.

Goram has left an unusual mark on the game, and there is not enough room here to tell about all his exploits.

He passed away too soon, less than a year after mentor Walter Smith - and along with him he belongs to the limited list of stars who will not stop shining even after their deaths.

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