David James: The story of a journey from East England to the south coast of Iceland

Goalkeeper David James poses after he was made an MBE at a Royal Investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace on October 25, 2012 in London, England. (Getty Images)

After breaking onto the scene at Watford and starting his Premier League career by playing for Liverpool in the early nineties, not many would have predicted that David James would end up playing well into his forties for a club in Iceland, but that is exactly what has transpired.

David James is currently plying his trade as both a player and assistant manager of Icelandic club ÍBV. And when he is not playing or managing, he is also a regular pundit on BT Sport and also writes for amongst others, the Guardian. His career has certainly seen a fair share of ups and downs and one that has been. for the most part, in the news for all the wrong reasons.

Having grown up supporting Luton Town, he ended up signing as a trainee with their local rivals Watford after leaving school. After winning the FA Youth Cup, James made his debut in a 1-2 defeat against Millwall on 25 August 1990 and quickly established himself and was the club’s Player of the Season that year as he helped the club escape relegation. His impressive performances for the Hornets meant that he was quickly snapped up by Liverpool for a then mammoth £1.25 million.

Upon joining Liverpool, James didn’t really make too much of an impression initially. In just his second season with the club, he lost his spot to veteran Bruce Grobbelaar after a disastrous start, which saw him conceding 20 goals in the first 11 games. After a disappointing year, he got back his spot next season and his frequent blunders earned him the nickname ‘Calamity James’. And although he won the League Cup in 1995, his mistakes and the club’s acquisition of Brad Friedel put James’ position in jeopardy.

And whilst his club career was in the balance, James made his international debut and in the process became the first ‘black’ goalkeeper to represent England. After his debut in a friendly against Mexico in 1997, he went on to represent his country 53 times until 2010 and was the first choice during both Euro 2004 and the 2010 World Cup.

And amidst growing concerns about his form, he was sold to Aston Villa for £1.8 million after seven moderately successful years at Liverpool which ended with a League Cup winner’s medal in 1995 and an FA Cup runners-up medal in 1996.

His stint with Aston Villa wasn’t noteworthy, but for an FA Cup final showing in 2000 and after just two seasons, he moved onto the Hammers. He played for West Ham, all of three seasons, before once again moving to Manchester City in January 2004. There again, he didn’t settle in and after having separated from his wife, he wanted to live closer to his children and hence moved to Portsmouth on a two year deal worth £1.2 million.

The move to Fratton Park saw him take off in a flash, with a blinding start to his career having kept clean sheets in his first five games. And the years that followed saw him break one record after the other. On 22 April 2007, James kept his 142nd clean sheet and broke the previous record held by David Seaman. Next year, he won the FA Cup with Portsmouth and the year after that, saw him become only the third player to play over 500 games in the Premier League, behind Gary Speed and Ryan Giggs.

In 2010, James became the oldest goalkeeper to appear in the FA Cup Final, when he faced Chesea, aged 39. He also holds the distinction of twice having been the record holder for consecutive Premier League appearances, with 159 and 166 respectively, but both streaks have been broken since. And when he eventually left Portsmouth at the end of the 2009-10 season, he held the record of most Premier League clean sheets with 173.

After leaving Pompey as a free agent, he then went onto play in the lower leagues for Bristol City and Bournemouth until he left the latter by mutual consent in March 2013. It was then that James signed a deal with Icelandic club IBV until the end of the 2013 season to join with former teammate Hermann Hreiðarsson.

After signing for IBV, the chairman of the ÍBV board revealed that James was not on high wages and was only playing out of passion and also to gain experience as an assistant manager and as a coach. His arrival at the club has resulted in an increase in the attendance for home and away games and one hopes that he will continue on into the sunset, doing what he loves, playing football.

And whether for his exotic hair styles or his comical display in goal, James will certainly hold a special place in the hearts of English football fans, especially Portsmouth fans.