| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Andrew Lewis Goram | ||
| Date of birth | 13 April 1964 | ||
| Place of birth | Bury, England | ||
| Height | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in) | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1981–1987 | Oldham Athletic | 195 | (0) |
| 1987–1991 | Hibernian | 138 | (1) |
| 1991–1998 | Rangers | 184 | (0) |
| 1998 | Notts County | 1 | (0) |
| 1998 | Sheffield United | 7 | (0) |
| 1998–2001 | Motherwell | 57 | (0) |
| 2001 | → Manchester United (loan) | 2 | (0) |
| 2001 | Hamilton Academical | 1 | (0) |
| 2001–2002 | Coventry City | 7 | (0) |
| 2002 | Oldham Athletic | 4 | (0) |
| 2002–2003 | Queen of the South | 19 | (0) |
| 2003–2004 | Elgin City | 5 | (0) |
| Total | 620 | (1[1]) | |
| National team | |||
| 1985–1998 | Scotland | 43 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Andrew Lewis Goram (born 13 April 1964 in Bury, Lancashire, England) is a former Scotland international association football goalkeeper. He started his career with Oldham Athletic and Hibernian, but he is best remembered for playing for Rangers during the 1990s, when he earned the moniker "The Goalie".[2] In a 2001 poll of Rangers fans, Goram was voted Rangers' greatest ever goalkeeper.
After his time with Rangers, he played for many clubs, most notably at Motherwell and a brief loan spell at Manchester United. Goram also represented Scotland at cricket.[3]
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The son of Edinburgh-born Lewis Goram, who had played professionally in the 1940s and 1950s for Leith Athletic, Hibernian, Third Lanark and Bury,[4] Goram was born and raised in England, although he was brought up self-identifying as Scottish.[5]
Goram joined Oldham Athletic as a teenager and spent seven years with the English club, winning his first Scotland caps and selection for the 1986 World Cup. In 1987, he moved to Hibernian, where his father had also been a goalkeeper, for a fee of £325,000. He was a great success at Hibs and achieved the remarkable feat of scoring a goal in a Premier Division match, against Morton.
He was sold to Rangers in 1991 for £1 million and went on to help the club to win six of their nine Scottish League titles in a row between 1989 and 1997. He was also involved in Rangers' notable run in the European Cup in 1992-93, as they came within one point of reaching the final.
During a 2-0 defeat at Celtic Park in January 1998, Goram wore a black armband in tribute to Billy 'King Rat' Wright, leader of the LVF who had been killed by the INLA five days earlier.[6][7] Goram had been questioned by police after his previous meetings with Wright,[8] but he later suggested that the armband had in fact been a tribute to an aunt who died four months previously.[8] In February 1999 Goram, then at Motherwell, withdrew from a match against Celtic at Fir Park after media reports alleged he had links to the UVF.[6][9]
Goram was also an important player for Scotland, winning 43 caps.[10] He had a long-running rivalry with Jim Leighton for the goalkeeping position in the Scotland team. Craig Brown controversially selected Goram ahead of Leighton for Scotland's matches in Euro 96, despite the fact that Leighton had played in most of the qualifiers. Brown then selected Leighton for France 98, which prompted Goram to walk out of the squad completely,[11] 15 days before Scotland were scheduled to play Brazil in the opening game of the World Cup.[10]
After it was reported in the press that Goram had a mild form of schizophrenia, fans responded with a chorus of "Two Andy Gorams, there's only two Andy Gorams".[12] This chant quickly gained popularity, and became the title of a book documenting humorous football chants.[13] Goram had a loan spell with Manchester United during their 2000-01 title run-in,[14] playing in two games. In the summer of 2001 he had a spell on trial with Hamilton Academical[15] then signed for Coventry City and made seven appearances.
While playing for Dumfries club Queen of the South in 2002, he won the Scottish Challenge Cup. This made Goram the first player to collect a full set of winners medals from the four senior Scottish football competitions.[10][16][17][18] A four-game return to Oldham Athletic followed, and he finally retired at the end of the 2003-04 season after a season-long spell at Elgin City, where he played just five league games.[19]
Goram is now an after-dinner speaker and regularly attends Rangers' fan gatherings. While opening a pub in 2008, Goram told a cheering group of Rangers fans about racist and sectarian abuse he had directed at Pierre van Hooijdonk during a match in November 1996.[8] Goram has also worked as a goalkeeping coach, joining Airdrie United in March 2006 and then Clyde in February 2008.[20] Goram left Clyde in September 2008 due to personal and business reasons.[21]
Also a cricketer, Goram represented the Scottish cricket team four times: twice (1989 and 1991) in the annual first-class game against Ireland and twice (again in 1989 and 1991) in the NatWest Trophy. A left-handed batsman and right-arm medium-pace bowler, he never achieved any great success, his most significant act was probably to bowl England Test player Richard Blakey in a NatWest Trophy game against Yorkshire in 1989.
He was also a league cricketer, appearing as a wicket-keeper and batsman for various Oldham clubs in the Saddleworth League including Delph & Dobcross, Moorside and also East Lancashire Paper Mill in Radcliffe, Bury. Goram played for Penicuik Cricket Club, Kelso Cricket Club, West Lothian County and Uddingston CC in Scottish cricket leagues. Goram made a cricketing comeback after ending his football career,[22] finally playing for Freuchie Cricket Club in their centenary week matches versus Cricket Scotland President's XI, Falkland Cricket Club and Sussex Ladies.
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