Grabbing
Results Last winter, Tim Howard spent much of his time
working out with former MetroStars’ goalkeeper
Paul Grafer on the indoor practice fields at the Elizabeth (N.J.) RexPlex, just
off Exit 13A of the Jersey Turnpike, next to IKEA. Occasionally, they were watched
by... a few locals. Thirteen months
later, Howard can be found at Old Trafford, The Theater
of Dreams, as the star goalkeeper for the world’s
most famous sports team—Manchester United. Millions
tune in weekly.
Last winter, Howard could roam around the New York Metropolitan
area and only draw an occasional curious stare. Now, in
his new city, he’s an A-list celebrity. Grafer,
Howard’s backup for 3-years, visited Tim and his
wife Laura in Manchester in December and got a first-hand
look at his buddy’s newfound popularity.
“Hanging out with Tim in Manchester I liken to somebody
coming to the U.S. from England and hanging out with Derek
Jeter in New York City,” Grafer says. “When
you walk through the streets, everybody comments and tells
him ‘good game’ or ‘good luck’
and at the different restaurants we went to, he was treated
REAL nicely. One evening, I came back from a jog in Tim’s
neighborhood and there were six schoolboys standing on
a ledge and looking over the fence into his living room
just to get a glimpse of him. It’s pretty amazing.”
And that’s just Manchester. Howard now would have
little luck trying to maintain his anonymity throughout
much of the rest of the world; whether in Oslo or Kuala
Lumpur or Nairobi or Montevideo or anywhere else Manchester
United’s estimated 53 million fans reside. And Howard’s
profile continues to rise. He has recently been named
Nike’s feature goalkeeper worldwide and in late
December he flew to Barcelona for a photo shoot for a
Nike ad campaign that will begin running in the summer.
Howard already stars in a Nike commercial with teammates
Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Rio Ferdinand.
But all of this comes with the territory when you are
the undisputed No. 1 goalkeeper on the world’s No.
1 team in the world’s No. 1 sport. Since his $3.6
million transfer from MLS last summer, Howard has solidified
a position that has been a question mark for United in
the recent past. His timely shotstopping, command in the
air and comfort on the backpass have helped the Red Devils’
to their best-ever start to a Premiership season and into
the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League. Howard
appears to be a cinch for the Premiership’s Newcomer
of the Year Award.
“Tim Howard has been the star of the show this season,”
Manager Sir Alex Ferguson told Manchester United Television
(MUTV) in January.
Nobody predicted Howard’s rise to the top would
be so swift and seem so natural; not Howard himself, not
Ferguson, not even Howard’s agent, whose job it
is to talk up his client.
“Tim and I were extremely confident of his capabilities
as a goalkeeper,” says Sportsnet LLC’s Dan
Segal, who represents Howard. “But I don’t
think anyone would have realized it would go as magically
as it has gone so far.”
What Segal didn’t worry about, though, was Howard’s
ability to adjust to the off-the-field challenges that
come with sudden fame and fortune. “That’s
one area I had no concerns,” he says. “Tim
had a mindset going over there that he was fully prepared
for what he was getting into. He is knowledgeable and
mature about the European environment. That part, I never
expected any problems.”
Those who know Howard say several factors have helped
him settle quickly into his new life. Most notably, has
been his marriage to the former Laura Ciancola. The two
had been scheduled to be married after the MLS season
last November. Obviously, circumstances changed, and instead
they tied the knot in New Yorks’ Central Park just
before leaving for England. They will hold the wedding
reception in her native Memphis in June. Being a family
man has helped Howard fit in with the “family”
culture at Manchester United. Many of the players are
married, and Tim and Laura have become very friendly with
teammate Quinton Fortune and his wife.
Howard also had a few old friends waiting for him in the
Manchester area. American Internationals Claudio Reyna
(Manchester City), Eddie Lewis (Preston North End) and
Brad Friedel (Blackburn Rovers) all live nearby and the
players get together regularly, with the English soccer
veterans often giving advice to the latest transplant.
Several of Howard’s former MetroStars’ teammates
have also come to stay with Tim and Laura in their posh
home in the quiet old town of Wilmslow. The accommodations
are certainly a step up for Howard, now earning $1.4 million
per season plus endorsements, who was living in a one
bedroom apartment in Kearny, N.J. only a few months ago.
“But (Tim) still comes across as though nothing
has changed,” says Grafer, who speaks with Howard
once a week. “He has always handled himself in a
very professional manner. You really can’t sense
any changes (in his personality) when you interact with
him.”
While Howard has been known to U.S. soccer fans for some
time, to the English public, he seemingly has come out
of nowhere. Howard was a two-time member of the Major
League Soccer Pepsi Best 11 and was generally regarded
as the league’s best young goalkeeper, but he hardly
had the international pedigree that suggested he would
be able to perform immediately on soccer’s big stage.
Prior to going overseas, Howard had only made nine appearances
as a member of the U.S. National Team.
Manchester United goalkeeper coach Tony Coton, however,
became a firm believer in Howard’s potential after
seeing him play for the first time on a trip to the U.S.
in the summer of 2001. The following year, Howard sent
tapes to England. Viewing the tapes, Ferguson was impressed
with Howard’s quickness, reflexes, courage and leaping
ability; attributes that helped make Howard a star on
the North Brunswick High basketball team in the mid-90s.
But Ferguson was convinced there would be a steep learning
curve. Even the two American keepers currently enjoying
success in the Premiership, Friedel and Kasey Keller (Tottenham
Hotspur), had needed a few years to settle overseas.
“If you look at the other players we brought in
during the summer, Kleberson had played in a World Cup
final, Eric Djemba Djemba was a Cameroon International,
Cristiano Ronaldo had been playing in Portugal’s
top league with Sporting Lisbon and David Bellion had
been in the Premiership with Sunderland,” Ferguson
told MUTV. “Tim didn’t have any of that experience.
So there was bound to be a question mark over him. But
Tony Coton was insistent and said ‘once you see
him, there will be no questions.’ That was a big
statement, but he was right.”
So, Manchester United bought Howard last summer, but it
was initially with an eye toward the future, and Howard
was okay with that. “It’s a fantasy to think
I will play here, and when the interest came, it was very
humbling,” Howard told a New York area newspaper
just after the move was made official. “If I get
to start some games, that’s great. If I’m
a reserve in some games, that’s great too.”
But Howard showed up at just the right time. Ferguson,
the players and the Man U supporters had become frustrated
with the erratic play of French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez,
who seemed to save his worst performances for the biggest
games. Initially, Howard’s arrival did not end speculation
Manchester United would bring in another goalkeeper. But
that talk ended after Howard’s inspired play against
Juventus and Barcelona in the United States and then in
the Community Shield against Arsenal where he stopped
penalty kicks from Giovanni van Bronkhorst and Robert
Pires in a shootout win for United. Since then, Howard
has succeeded where the likes of Barthez, Mark Bosnich
and Massimo Taibi have failed; he has provided leadership
and inspired confidence in the team’s coaches, players
and fans the way legendary keeper Peter Schmeichel did
for the club throughout the 1990s, when he helped United
to four League titles and several Cups, including the
1999 European Cup.
Schmeichel, who is a radio commentator for Manchester
United matches, told the British media he believes his
old job is in safe hands with Howard. But, he also said
Howard will ultimately be judged on his long-term success.
“It’s only been half a season and I know what
it’s like to have people put all these expectations
on you just because you start well,” says Schmeichel,
who points out Barthez also had a strong start to his
Man U career. “I’d like to see (Tim) do that
forever… but, I’d also like to see some consistency
over time. That’s what’s going to really win
the fans over—consistency.”
Howard knows that, like every goalkeeper, he will face
some adversity and because he plays for Manchester United,
any mistake will be magnified by members of the British
media, who will tear a player down even quicker than they
build him up. Howard was actually the target of the unyielding
British press even before he arrived in Manchester, when
some tabloids joked about his Tourette syndrome. Since
he was 11, Howard has suffered from the neurological disorder
which has left him with a slight twitch. Howard has received
awards for the work he has done on behalf of Tourette’s
since he went public with his condition in 2000. But some
British tabloids greeted news of his impending signing
with headlines like, “United’s Swearing Savior:
Tourette’s Sufferer is Old Trafford Target”
and “United Want Goalkeeper with a Brain Disorder.”
But they are no longer writing those headlines. “His
success at his club has given Tim a much greater platform
for trying to do what he’s doing for Tourette’s,”
Segal says. “That’s one of the many great
by-products of the success he has enjoyed. All the negative
publicity just set the stage for him to more dramatically
disprove the stereotypes or the lack of awareness many
people have about the disorder.”
Some within Manchester United have wondered whether fatigue,
physical and or mental, could become a problem for Howard
during the second part of the season. He has essentially
been playing non-stop since April of last year. Segal
said the United staff has monitored Howard closely and
at times cut back on certain training-ground activities
in the name of rest. Grafer, who spent three seasons as
Howard’s backup, said fatigue should not be a concern.
“(Tim) seems like he could play year-round,”
he says. “He stays so fresh, mentally. Very rarely
was he not 100 percent mentally up for a training session
or a match. I don’t know how he does it. It seems
like human nature to hit a plateau or fall off a little.
But he has always stayed on an even keel and gotten up
for every match like it’s a Cup final.”
***
On Matchday Six of the UEFA Champions League on Dec. 6,
Grafer, D.C. United defender and former MetroStar Mike
Petke and former San Jose Earthquakes defender Wade Barrett
stood together in the stands at Old Trafford as 67,000
fans filed in for that night’s contest against Stuttgart,
which would be beamed around the world. While they watched
Tim Howard running through warm-ups on the pitch, they
mused about how far their friend had come in so little
time. “We discussed how weird and surreal it was,
and how incredible for our buddy to be over there and
be starring for the biggest team,” Grafer says.
“On the flipside, it seemed right and comfortable.
The way he has performed has been a testament to that.”
Feature
Story 2
The
Soccer Lifer
You would think that most guys who have spent all of their
adult lives running around in t-shirts and shorts for
a few hours a day for a living would have an aversion
to “going corporate” when they are finally
forced into the “real world.” That is not
...continue
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