Peter Schmeichel, Manchester United player

Peter Schmeichel is regarded by many as the best goalkeeper ever to play for Manchester United. He enjoyed eight successful seasons with the club between 1991-1992 and the treble-winning season of 1998-1999.

Schmeichel was born and brought up near Copenhagen in Denmark. He played organised football as a boy, and senior football from the age of eighteen. His first full-time professional contract was with Brondby in the Danish League, where he had four successful years before signing for Manchester United in 1991. Martin Edwards, then the club’s Chief Executive, drove a hard bargain with Brondby and Schmeichel became one of Manchester United’s greatest ever bargains.

He was first-choice goalkeeper for eight seasons. In five of these Manchester United won the Premiership and, in three of them, the FA Cup. There were two ‘doubles’ and, of course, a ‘treble’. Schmeichel captained the team for most of the 1997-1998 season when Roy Keane was injured, and he was captain again when Keane missed the 1998-1999 UEFA Champions League final through suspension. Having decided that he would move on at the end of the 1998-1999 season, Schmeichel’s final game for the club was the famous UEFA Champions League victory over Bayern Munich. After leaving Manchester United, Schmeichel played for Sporting, Aston Villa and Manchester City before retiring in 2003.

Schmeichel was a big goalkeeper. He would spread himself before opposing strikers in a way that made him seem even taller than his six feet four inches. In one-on-one situations he was intimidating. He dominated his penalty area, motivating himself, so he claimed, by continually yelling at his defenders. He was both agile and quick-thinking. Frequently he would stop an attack and begin one in the same movement: gathering the ball and swiftly throwing it forward. He is remembered for many heroics, including a series of saves in a game at Newcastle in 1995-1996 and a penalty save in the last minute of an FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal in 1998-1999. If circumstances demanded it, he would join the attack towards the ends of games. In doing so he scored a small number of goals, including one for Manchester United. While critics would point out his occasional errors and condemn his incessant shouting and apparent readiness always to blame others, to most observers he was an outstanding goalkeeper who, at the height of his powers, was probably the best in the world.

Schmeichel made 129 appearances for Denmark over fourteen years, and was a member of the Denmark team that won Euro 1992. In 2001 he was awarded an honorary MBE for services to football.