Norwich City Heaven - England goalies

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On a recent visit to my hairdresser he (that's Ian) mentioned that Chris Woods had played for England four times when he was at Norwich. This got me thinking, Norwich have had three England goalies, Woods, Green and Ruddy. Surely not many other clubs can boast three England goalies post World War II? So I decided to do some research...

I discovered that Norwich have had more England goalkeepers than Chelsea, Everton and West Ham and exactly the same amount as Arsenal, Leicester, Liverpool and Southampton which is quite impressive for a club like ours. Spurs and the two Manchester clubs lead the way with 4 goalies each and not many teams can claim that they've had the two greatest England goalkeepers on their books like Leicester and Stoke can with Banks and Shilton.

Ipswich have only had one goalkeeper that has been capped by England (Richard Wright). Even Luton Town have had two, Ron Baynham and Bernard Streten. Actually the Norwich/England goalkeeper connection doesn't end with Messrs Woods, Green and Ruddy. Joe Corrigan, who played 3 times for the Canaries in 1984 on loan from Manchester City made nearly 500 league appearances for the Blues and played 9 internationals between 1976 and 1982 but would have played many more had he not been competing with Peter Shilton and Ray Clemence.

Fraser Forster spent a hugely successful season at Norwich in 2010/11 on loan from Newcastle United, helping the Canaries win the League One title. Forster made his England debut in 2013 as a Celtic player and is now a regular squad member as a Southampton player.

Joe Lewis (then at Peterborough United) was called up in 2008 for friendlies against the USA and Trinidad & Tobago but was an unused sub for both games. Lewis started his career at Carrow Road but never made it off the bench. He now plays for Aberdeen.

Here's the full list:

Arsenal 3 (Jimmy Rimmer, David Seaman, Richard Wright)
Aston Villa 2 (David James, Nigel Spink)
Birmingham City 2 (Ben Foster, Jack Butland)
Blackburn Rovers 1 (Tim Flowers)
Blackpool 1 (Tony Waiters)
Bolton Wanderers 1 (Eddie Hopkinson)
Burnley 2 (Tom Heaton, Colin McDonald)
Celtic 1 (Fraser Forster)
Chelsea 2 (Dave Beasant, Peter Bonetti)
Coventry City 1 (Reg Matthews)
Crystal Palace 1 (Nigel Martyn)
Derby County 1 (Peter Shilton)
Everton 1 (Gordon West)
Ipswich Town 1 (Richard Wright)
Leeds United 2 (Nigel Martyn, Paul Robinson)
Leicester City 3 (Gordon Banks, Peter Shilton, Ian Walker)
Liverpool 3 (Scott Carson, Ray Clemence, David James)
Luton Town 2 (Ron Baynham, Bernard Streten)
Manchester City 4 (Joe Corrigan, Joe Hart, David James, Frank Swift)
Manchester United 4 (Gary Bailey, Ben Foster, Alex Stepney, Ray Wood)
Norwich City 3 (Robert Green, John Ruddy, Chris Woods)
Nottingham Forest 1 (Peter Shilton)
Portsmouth 1 (David James)
Queens Park Rangers 2 (Phil Parkes, David Seaman)
Rangers 1 (Chris Woods)
Sheffield United 1 (Alan Hodgkinson)
Sheffield Wednesday 2 (Ron Springett, Chris Woods)
Southampton 3 (Tim Flowers, Fraser Forster, Peter Shilton)
Stoke City 3 (Gordon Banks, Jack Butland, Peter Shilton)
Tottenham Hotspur 4 (Ray Clemence, Ted Ditchburn, Paul Robinson, Ian Walker)
West Ham United 2 (Robert Green, David James)
West Bromwich Albion 2 (Scott Carson, Ben Foster)
Wigan Athletic 1 (Chris Kirkland)
Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 (Bert Williams)

John Ruddy photo by Nick Goodrum.