Steve Ogrizovic

Steve Ogrizovic
Personal information
Full name Steven Ogrizovic
Date of birth (1957-09-12) 12 September 1957
Place of birth Mansfield, England
Height 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)[1]
Playing position Goalkeeper
Club information
Current team
 Coventry City
(Goalkeeping Coach)
Youth career
1976–1977 ONRYC
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1977 Chesterfield 16 (0)
1977–1982 Liverpool 4 (0)
1982–1984 Shrewsbury Town 84 (0)
1984–2000 Coventry City 507 (1)
Total 611 (1)
Teams managed
2002 Coventry City (Joint caretaker)
2004 Coventry City (Caretaker)
2007-2010 Coventry City (Reserve team)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.


Steven "Steve" Ogrizovic, nicknamed Oggy (born 12 September 1957 in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire) is an English association football coach and former professional footballer, currently employed as goalkeeping coach of Football League One side Coventry City.

As a player he was a goalkeeper from 1977 until 2000 and achieved fame during 16 years at Coventry City (1984 to 2000). He holds the record at Coventry for the most appearances as a player at 601 in all competitions (504 in the league) and he played in the winning FA Cup team of 1987. He also played for Chesterfield, Liverpool and Shrewsbury Town.

Playing career

He started his professional career at Chesterfield before moving to Liverpool and then Shrewsbury Town before joining Coventry for £72,500 in 1984. He was also selected to play for the Football League vs The Rest Of The World at Wembley in 1987.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Ogrizovic was generally considered to be the best goalkeeper never to have won a full England cap. Although frequently considered for selection during this period by a number of England managers including Bobby Robson and Graham Taylor, he was never selected for the full squad. He was once considered to be selected for the Yugoslavian national side (due to his Yugoslavian parentage), in the late eighties, but he declined the offer.

He was still Coventry's first choice goalkeeper in the 1997–98 season, when at the age of 40 he was the oldest player to play a Premier League game that season. In order to gain his final playing contract Ogrizovic had to give up smoking as one of the conditions. He was the club's second choice goalkeeper for the next two seasons following the arrival of Magnus Hedman, and finally retired at the end of the 1999–2000 season.

In 16 seasons at Coventry, he collected an FA Cup winner's medal, but never played in European competition (Coventry were unable to qualify for the European Cup Winners' Cup due to the ban on English teams in European competition following the Heysel Disaster of 1985) and the highest position Coventry attained in this period was seventh in the 1988–89 First Division. On no less than seven times in Ogrizovic's time at the club, they came close to relegation from the top flight. They were finally relegated from the Premier League one season after his retirement.

Ogrizovic is also one of the very few goalkeepers to have scored from open play, the goal coming in a 2–2 draw at Sheffield Wednesday in the Football League First Division on 12 October 1986. It was the only goal he ever scored in a competitive game. He is also one of four players to have played top-flight football in four different decades along with Peter Shilton, John Lukic and Sir Stanley Matthews and holds the club record of 209 consecutive League appearances for a Coventry City player, from August 1984 to September 1989. Overall, he made 604 professional league appearances in a playing career spanning 23 years from 1977 to 2000. His final appearance for Coventry came on 6 May 2000 against Sheffield Wednesday. The keeper had not been first choice for much of that season, alternating the number 1 position with Magnus Hedman, but was awarded the jersey for the club's final home game in recognition of his outstanding service to the club.[2]

Coaching career

During the Iain Dowie era, Ogrizovic was the manager of the Coventry City Reserve Team and he continued to hold this under Chris Coleman. He was also caretaker manager in conjunction with Brian Borrows at the end of the 2001–02 season, between Roland Nilsson's departure and Gary McAllister's appointment. His current role is the Coventry City Goalkeeping Coach.

Personal life

Ogrizovic served both as a Police Cadet and as a Police Officer at Mansfield Police Station in Nottinghamshire prior to signing as a professional footballer. In 2003 Ogrizovic was the subject of a hoax that said that he had been kidnapped in Kazakhstan and an online petition was set up to campaign to get him released. This was proved to be false when the Coventry Evening Telegraph interviewed him at Coventry City's training ground at Ryton-on-Dunsmore. He was once mentioned on the BBC sitcom Gavin & Stacey as being an old friend of Nessa's.

Cricket career

Steve Ogrizovic
Personal information
Full name Steve Ogrizovic
Nickname Oggy
Height 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm medium-fast
Role Bowler
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1983-1984 Shropshire
1984 Minor Counties
List A debut 29 June 1983 Salop v Som.
Last List A 18 July 1984 Salop v Warks
Career statistics
Competition List A
Matches 4
Runs scored 23
Batting average 11.50
100s/50s 0/0
Top score 14
Balls bowled 234
Wickets 5
Bowling average 28.20
5 wickets in innings 0
10 wickets in match N/A
Best bowling 2-21
Catches/stumpings 1/0

Ogrizovic was also a competent cricketer, reaching minor counties level as a medium-fast bowler. He played three List A matches for Shropshire in the NatWest Trophy, and a further game for Minor Counties in the Benson & Hedges Cup. Among his wickets at this level were Chris Broad, Martyn Moxon, Viv Richards, and Alvin Kallicharran.

Honours

As a player

Liverpool
Coventry City

As an individual

References

  1. ↑ Strange, Jonathan. A Tenner and Box of Kippers: The Story of Keith Houchen (Stadia, 2006, ISBN 978-0-7524-3796-5)
  2. ↑ Barnes, Stuart (6 May 2000). "Wednesday on the edge". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 7 April 2010.
  3. ↑ "Coventry City | Club | History | History | Hall of Fame". 2012-07-22. Archived from the original on 22 July 2012. Retrieved 2015-08-22.
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