Julian Speroni on starting his career at Dundee
The Argentine goalkeeper reaching a decade of service at Selhurst Park talks to Alan Pattullo about his fond memories of Dens, ‘where it all began’
They describe him as the Hands of God, with reference to an uncelebrated episode in English football history. This readiness to play on the phrase that still haunts many south of the Border indicates just how fondly Crystal Palace supporters have come to regard Julian Speroni after a near-decade long association. A restaurant called Speroni’s situated at the club’s Selhurst Park ground is further evidence of how firmly established at the London club the goalkeeper has become, following his transfer from Dundee in the summer of 2004.
It is hard to credit that he has been with Palace for so long, just as it is sometimes difficult to believe the understandably nervous 20 year-old who took time to find his feet with Dundee has now become the byword for assured goalkeeping as well as fine-dining.
Later this evening Speroni will line up against Manchester United; ten years ago this weekend, it was Livingston, after he had finally dislodged Jamie Langfield from the No 1 spot at Dens Park. “It seems like another life now,” admits Speroni, as we sit facing each other at his eponymous restaurant. This establishment isn’t the one at Selhurst Park. Instead, it is a new restaurant that the goalkeeper has just opened in Purley, about four miles from the ground, and where a team bonding session was held at the start of this vital week as manager Tony Pullis – he is Speroni’s eighth at Palace, though “there have been 12 or 13, including caretakers” – sought to instill a sense of togetherness ahead of today’s clash with the champions; Palace are currently two points above safety although such is the tight nature of the league, victory over David Moyes’ side would take them into the middle reaches of the other kind of table in Speroni’s life.