Who is West Ham’s No.2?

I don’t like to doubt the manager. I feel at present we’re in good hands. However as Max Bygraves once crooned ‘You Need Hands’ and with Stephen Henderson away in Tractor land, I can’t help but think Sam Allardyce has possibly made an error with our more difficult fixtures ahead of us. Though (I believe) Hendo can be recalled at 24 hours notice, should Jussi Jaaskelainen be injured during a game, we only have Raphael Spiegel as back up.

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Much like the majority of Hammers fans, the name of Raphael Spiegel was basically greeted with shrugged shoulders on his signing for us. A 19-year-old rookie keeper that was going to mainly be seeing action in the development squad. However, with the possibility of him playing, I thought it fair to educate us with some information about him, and, as ‘Spiegel’ translates into English as ‘Mirror’ I hope this is a fair reflection. (Boom boom!)

Spiegel has played in the second tier (17 times) and the third tier (41 times) of the Swiss League. Though not the biggest leagues in Europe, to rack up that many professional games in goal at such a young age, is no mean feat. He has also represented Switzerland at Under 17, 18, 19 and 20 levels. To be fair this is also encouragingly consistent for us fans for a goalkeeper in his formative years.

 

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Raphael is also a World Champion, being part of the Swiss squad that won the Under 17 World Cup in 2009. Though an unused substitute throughout, he still holds the distinction of having a winners’ medal.

So maybe it isn’t all doom and gloom. After all, one of the biggest sides in Switzerland (Grasshoppers) coveted him from an early age. And, to have made the number of appearances albeit at a younger age, says a lot when it’s a position generally filled with more experienced, senior, professionals. Therefore, despite never having seen him play, I think should he be called into action, there’s enough about him to do a job for us. Yes, seeing performances would instil more confidence in me, but based on facts there should be no reason to panic. Keep blowing bubbles Smudgy

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