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Steve Ogrizovic

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Steve Ogrizovic
Personal information
Full name Steven Ogrizovic
Date of birth (1957-09-12) 12 September 1957 (age 67)
Place of birth Mansfield, United Kingdom
Height 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)[1]
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team
 Coventry City
(Coach)
Youth career
1976–1977 ONRYC
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1977 Chesterfield 16 (0)
1977–1982 Liverpool 4 (0)
1982–1984 Shrewsbury Town 84 (0)
1984–2000 Coventry City 507 (1)
Total 611 (1)
Managerial career
2002 Coventry City (Joint caretaker)
2004 Coventry City (Caretaker)
2007–2010 Coventry City (Reserve team)
2008—2019 Coventry City (Goalkeeping Coach)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Steven "Oggy" Ogrizovic (born 12 September 1957 in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire) is an English retired association football coach and former professional footballer, most recently[when?] employed as goalkeeping coach of League One side Coventry City.

As a player, he was a goalkeeper from 1977 until 2000, the last 16 years of which were at Coventry City. He holds the record at Coventry for the most appearances as a player at 601 in all competitions (507 in the league) and he played in the winning FA Cup team of 1987. He also played for Chesterfield, Liverpool and Shrewsbury Town.

Playing career

He started his professional career at Chesterfield before moving to Liverpool. His time at Liverpool was frustrating as he was unable to displace Ray Clemence. On his debut against Derby County on 8 March 1978, he conceded 4 goals. He managed a few more team appearances before moving to Shrewsbury Town.[2] In 1984 he joined Coventry for £72,500. He was also selected to play for the Football League vs The Rest Of The World at Wembley in 1987.[3]

He was still Coventry's first choice goalkeeper in the 1997–98 season, when at the age of 40 he was the oldest player to play a Premier League game that season.[4] In order to gain his final playing contract Ogrizovic had to give up smoking as one of the conditions. He was the club's second choice goalkeeper for the next two seasons following the arrival of Magnus Hedman, and finally retired at the end of the 1999–2000 season.[5]

In 16 seasons at Coventry, he collected an FA Cup winner's medal, but never played in European competition (Coventry were unable to qualify for the European Cup Winners' Cup due to the ban on English teams in European competition following the Heysel Disaster of 1985) and the highest position Coventry attained in this period was seventh in the 1988–89 First Division. On no fewer than seven occasions in Ogrizovic's time at the club, they came close to relegation from the top flight. They were finally relegated from the Premier League one season after his retirement.

Ogrizovic is also one of the very few goalkeepers to have scored from open play, the goal coming in a 2–2 draw at Sheffield Wednesday in the Football League First Division on 12 October 1986. It was the only goal he ever scored in a competitive game.[6] He is also one of four players to have played top-flight football in four different decades along with Peter Shilton, John Lukic and Sir Stanley Matthews and holds the club record of 209 consecutive League appearances for a Coventry City player, from August 1984 to September 1989.[7] Overall, he made 604 professional league appearances in a playing career spanning 23 years from 1977 to 2000.[8]

His final appearance for Coventry came on 6 May 2000 against Sheffield Wednesday. The keeper had not been first choice for much of that season, alternating the number 1 position with Magnus Hedman, but was awarded the jersey for the club's final home game in recognition of his outstanding service to the club.[9]

International career

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Ogrizovic was generally considered to be the best goalkeeper never to have won a full England cap.[10] Although frequently considered for selection during this period by a number of England managers including Bobby Robson and Graham Taylor, he was never selected for the full squad. He was once considered to be selected for the Yugoslavian national side (due to his Yugoslavian parentage), in the late eighties, but he declined the offer.[11]

Coaching career

During the Iain Dowie era, Ogrizovic was the manager of the Coventry City Reserve Team and he continued to hold this under Chris Coleman. He was also caretaker manager in conjunction with Brian Borrows at the end of the 2001–02 season, between Roland Nilsson's departure and Gary McAllister's appointment. He was Coventry City's Goalkeeping coach from 2008 to 2019.[7][12]

Personal life

Ogrizovic is the son of Nikola Ogrizović (Serbian Cyrillic: Никола Огризовић), a Yugoslav (Serb) prisoner of war in Italy during World War II, who sought refuge in the United Kingdom after being liberated by British troops.[13] He served both as a Police Cadet and as a Police Officer at Mansfield Police Station in Nottinghamshire prior to signing as a professional footballer.[14][8] In 2003 Ogrizovic was the subject of a hoax that said that he had been kidnapped in Kazakhstan and an online petition was set up to campaign to get him released. This was proved to be false when the Coventry Evening Telegraph interviewed him at Coventry City's training ground at Ryton-on-Dunsmore.[15]

Cricket career

Steve Ogrizovic
Personal information
Full name
Steve Ogrizovic
NicknameOggy
Height6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
BattingRight-hand bat
BowlingRight-arm medium-fast
RoleBowler
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1983-1984Shropshire
1984Minor Counties
List A debut29 June 1983 Salop v Som.
Last List A18 July 1984 Salop v Warks
Career statistics
Competition List A
Matches 4
Runs scored 23
Batting average 11.50
100s/50s 0/0
Top score 14
Balls bowled 234
Wickets 5
Bowling average 28.20
5 wickets in innings 0
10 wickets in match N/A
Best bowling 2-21
Catches/stumpings 1/0

Ogrizovic was also a cricketer, reaching minor counties level as a medium-fast bowler. He played three List A matches for Shropshire in the NatWest Trophy, and a further game for Minor Counties in the Benson & Hedges Cup. Among his wickets at this level were Chris Broad, Martyn Moxon and Alvin Kallicharran.[16]

Honours

As a player

Liverpool

Coventry City

As an individual

References

  1. ^ Strange, Jonathan. A Tenner and Box of Kippers: The Story of Keith Houchen (Stadia, 2006, ISBN 978-0-7524-3796-5)
  2. ^ "PLAYERS - STEVE OGRIZOVIC". LFCHistory. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  3. ^ Steve Ogrizovic: Coventry City will be back. Coventry Telegraph (2012-05-11). Retrieved 2018-04-18.
  4. ^ The Premier League's 25 oldest players ever. The Daily telegraph (2016-04-27). Retrieved 2018-04-18.
  5. ^ Charles, Chris (2013-11-06). Where are they now - Coventry's FA Cup final winning team. BT Sport. Retrieved 2018-04-18.
  6. ^ Mann, Mantej (2016-10-25). Coventry City digest: 30 years since Steve Ogrizovic scored from a goal-kick and Sky Blues U23s win again. Coventry Telegraph. Retrieved 2018-04-18.
  7. ^ a b Baker, George & Turner, Andy (2017-09-12). Coventry City legend Steve Ogrizovic celebrates his 60th birthday. Coventry Telegraph. Retrieved 2018-04-18.
  8. ^ a b Members News: Oggy's Son's Charity Quest To Fill In Their European Family History. Covery City Former Players Association. Retrieved 2018-04-18.
  9. ^ Barnes, Stuart (6 May 2000). "Wednesday on the edge". London, UK: The Guardian. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
  10. ^ "Top 15 Players To Never Be Capped by England". The Sportster.com. 23 December 2015. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  11. ^ "DAY 1: Steve Ogrizovic - What you didn't know about City's number one! - News - Coventry City". www.ccfc.co.uk. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  12. ^ Ireland, Shane (25 April 2019). "'I'll miss it' - Sky Blues favourite reveals this big summer decision". Coventry Telegraph.
  13. ^ Awford, Jenny (2015-05-01). Cousins retrace their grandfather's 1,500-mile escape from the Nazis with no map and just £20 each in their pocket - the same as their 'Papa' did more than 70 years ago. Daily Mail. Retrieved 2018-04-18.
  14. ^ Moore, Glen (1997-02-22). Ogrizovic proud to stand alone. Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2018-04-18.
  15. ^ Murray, Scott (8 January 2003). "Oggy, Oggy, Oggy, out, out, out!". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
  16. ^ Steve Ogrizovic. Cric Info. Retrieved 2018-04-18.
  17. ^ "Coventry City | Club | History | History | Hall of Fame". 22 July 2012. Archived from the original on 22 July 2012. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
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