Express & Star

No Mountain high enough for keepers

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It's been a position Wolves fans have come to rely on in recent years.

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A succession of goalkeepers have stamped their authority on the number one position, earning national acclaim and international recognition.

Matt Murray, Wayne Hennessey and Carl Ikeme - all home-grown academy talents - have between them spent the best part of 10 years between the sticks at Molineux.

And the man whose job it is to ensure that succession line continues is goalkeeping coach Pat Mountain.

Popular Welshman Mountain joined the club in 2008 and is now overseeing the next band of glove-men who will hopefully progress from academy to first team.

Aaron McCarey, Jon Flatt and Harry Burgoyne may be new keepers to the majority of Wolves fans, but in total the trio have already been at the club for 23 years.

"We've been fortunate with our run of goalkeepers in the first team and it's my job to continue that," Mountain said.

Aaron McCarey of Wolverhampton Wanderers

"Its important the youngsters aged 11, 12 and 13 can see that people like Jon and Harry have been here a long time, and before that Matt Murray, Wayne Hennessey and Carl, have come through the system, as well as Aaron McCarey.

"Kenny Jackett is really proactive at promoting young players and they perhaps get opportunities they wouldn't get at other clubs, which really aids their development.

Flatt, 20 and Burgoyne, 18, were recently thrust into the first-team spotlight when an Ikeme injury, Tomasz Kuszczak's departure and McCarey's FA drug hearing meant they became the club's most senior keepers.

Mountain envisages a bright future for them both.

Of Wolverhampton-born Flatt, the goalkeeping coach said: "He's been with us for about 12 years already, has been captain of our under-21s and spent time with Wrexham last season.

"He's a really good talker and his attitude is different class.

"If the chance came up to play for Wolves' first team that could be great.

Jon Flatt of Wolverhampton Wanderers.

"More realistically, he's shown he can play Conference football so hopefully he can get some league football. I think that would be best for his progression."

First-year pro Burgoyne, from Ludlow, joined Wolves aged 12 and starred in Wolves' under-19 Bitzer Cup success in Germany in May. "He played the majority of the games in the youth team last year and play some for the under 21s as well so for him Clairefontaine was a fantastic opportunity," Mountain said.

"You can gain loads from being around the first team boys, seeing how they conduct themselves on and off the pitch to see what it's like to be a top professional."

When it comes to football, goalkeepers are often said to be a different breed.And Mountain said the importance of learning from each other, whether there were two goalkeepers in a training session or seven, was vital. "It's important the youth team goalkeepers train with the seniors to get a feel for how good they are and how big a gap they've got to bridge, and gain from watching them work," he said.

Harry Burgoyne of Wolverhampton Wanderers

"Carl Ikeme is terrific with the young goalkeepers in terms of giving them information and imparting his knowledge and try and help them get better as well.

"If they hear it off Carl Ikeme it carries more weight than when they hear it off me. And he remembers the same when Michael Oakes was here.

"He's become one of the senior players. He's always, as a person, been quite mature anyway but he's embraced the fact he's one of the senior professionals."

With clubs happy to stockpile goalkeepers Mountain said the importance of loan spells could not be underestimated, be it in league or non-league football.

"Aaron McCarey went on loan and has done a great job as Carl's understudy," Mountain said. Hopefully things work out for him - he's a really good personality around the place."

"Matt Murray went to Kingstonian, Aaron played for Telford, and if you can go somewhere aged 18 or 19, playing men's football can really toughen you up.

"The situations you're going to face probably don't vary that much in the Conference National, to Conference North, maybe even to League Two.

"You've got to get used to having 30 people, behind your goal, then 100, then 1,000 and then at Molineux maybe 7,000."