Hans Segers

Hans Segers
Personal information
Full name Johannes Segers[1]
Date of birth (1961-10-30) 30 October 1961 (age 63)[1]
Place of birth Eindhoven, Netherlands[1]
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1981–1984 PSV Eindhoven 16 (0)
1984–1988 Nottingham Forest 58 (0)
1987 → Stoke City (loan) 1 (0)
1987–1988 → Sheffield United (loan) 10 (0)
1988 → Dunfermline Athletic (loan) 4 (0)
1988–1996 Wimbledon 262 (0)
1996–1997 Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 (0)
1997 Woking ? (0)
1997–1998 Wolverhampton Wanderers 11 (0)
1998–2001 Tottenham Hotspur 1 (0)
Total 363 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Johannes "Hans" Segers (born 30 October 1961) is a Dutch football coach and former professional player who played as a goalkeeper.

As a player, he notably spent eight years with Wimbledon where he featured in the Premier League. He also played in England's top flight for Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur. He had spells in his native the Netherlands with PSV Eindhoven and in Scotland with Dunfermline Athletic, and in the Football League with Sheffield United, Stoke City, Wolverhampton Wanderers.[1]

Playing career

Segers was born in Eindhoven, North Brabant. His early career was with home-town club PSV Eindhoven, before being signed for Nottingham Forest by Brian Clough during the 1983–84 season. In his first season with Forest he played 32 times but lost his place to Steve Sutton and played in 12 matches in 1985–86. He made 18 appearances in 1986–87 and signed for Stoke City on loan in March 1987 playing in one Second Division match for the "Potters", a 4–1 defeat away at West Bromwich Albion.[1] He played five games in 1987–88 with Sutton injured, but was clearly second choice despite he and Sutton being of similar ability. He spent time that season out on loan at Sheffield United and Scottish side Dunfermline Athletic.[1]

His career revived when he was signed as replacement for Dave Beasant by Wimbledon in the aftermath of their FA Cup glory in 1988, his long kicks suiting Wimbledon's style of play, as Beasant's had done. He would remain the club's first choice goalkeeper over the next eight seasons, making 265 league appearances. Although he was unable to help Wimbledon win any more silverware, they never finished lower than 14th in the top flight in any of the eight seasons he played for them, and peaked at sixth place in the FA Premier League in 1994.

In 1994, he was accused of involvement in match fixing, together with Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar, Wimbledon striker John Fashanu and a Malaysian businessman. The case was referred to Winchester Crown Court for a criminal trial in 1997 but all four defendants were cleared.[2] In December 1997, Grobbelaar and Segers were found guilty by the Football Association of breaching betting regulations.[3]

In the summer of 1996, Segers signed for Wolverhampton Wanderers as understudy to Mike Stowell. A brief spell in the Conference with Woking followed, before returning to Wolves again. A highlight during his time at Wolves was helping them reach the semi-finals of the 1997–98 FA Cup. In the quarter-finals, against Premier League side Leeds United, Wolves were leading 1-0 before a young Robbie Keane conceded a penalty in the dying minutes. However Segers saved Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's penalty to see his side through.[4]

Segers then made a remarkable return to the Premier League scene with Tottenham Hotspur, where he spent three years (playing just one league game) as a standby goalkeeper until he finally retired in the summer of 2001, a few months before his 40th birthday.

Coaching career

He was goalkeeper-coach at Tottenham Hotspur until 26 October 2007 when he was asked to stand down with immediate effect following the sacking of Martin Jol.[5]

Segers returned to his home-town club, PSV Eindhoven as a goalkeeping coach in July 2008 until June 2011,[6] when he linked up again with new Fulham manager Jol as Fulham's goalkeeping coach.[7]

In November 2018 Hans assumed the role of goalkeeper coach with the Australian national team until the completion of the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019.[8]

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[9]
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other[a] Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Nottingham Forest 1984–85 First Division 28 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 32 0
1985–86 First Division 11 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 12 0
1986–87 First Division 14 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 18 0
1987–88 First Division 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0
Total 58 0 5 0 4 0 0 0 66 0
Stoke City (loan) 1986–87 Second Division 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Sheffield United (loan) 1987–88 Second Division 10 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 11 0
Dunfermline Athletic(loan) 1987–88 Scottish Premier Division 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0
Wimbledon 1988–89 First Division 33 0 4 0 4 0 2 0 43 0
1989–90 First Division 38 0 1 0 5 0 3 0 47 0
1990–91 First Division 37 0 3 0 2 0 1 0 43 0
1991–92 First Division 41 0 2 0 2 0 1 0 46 0
1992–93 Premier League 41 0 5 0 4 0 0 0 50 0
1993–94 Premier League 41 0 3 0 6 0 0 0 50 0
1994–95 Premier League 32 0 4 0 3 0 0 0 41 0
1995–96 Premier League 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0
Total 262 0 22 0 26 0 7 0 317 0
Wolverhampton Wanderers 1996–97 First Division 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1997–98 First Division 11 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 13 0
Total 11 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 13 0
Tottenham Hotspur 1998–99 Premier League 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0
Career total 347 0 29 0 31 0 8 0 415 0
  1. ^ Includes Full Members Cup

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Lowe, Simon (2000). Stoke City The Modern Era – A Complete Record. Desert Island Books. ISBN 1-874287-39-2.
  2. ^ "Grobbelaar's evidence 'riddled with lies'". BBC News. 14 July 1999. Retrieved 14 December 2008.
  3. ^ "Suspended ban for Grobbelaar and Segers". BBC News. 13 December 1997. Retrieved 14 December 2008.
  4. ^ "Segers' save sees Wolves through". BBC. 7 March 1998. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  5. ^ "Ramos favourite for Tottenham job". BBC Sport. 26 October 2007. Retrieved 14 December 2008.
  6. ^ "Hans Segers LinkedIn". Hans Segers LinkedIn.
  7. ^ "Hans Segers – Goalkeeper Coach". Fulham FC. Archived from the original on 19 February 2014. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
  8. ^ "Caltex Socceroos announce staff changes ahead of November matches". FFA. 15 November 2018. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  9. ^ Hans Segers at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)