Chris McCluskey speaks to The Away End

Friday, 25 June 2010 09:27

Chris McCluskey – Safe Hands

By Sean Graham

Many of the top goalkeepers hit the limelight and hit the headlines for all sorts of reasons. Spare a thought for some of the keepers in the lower leagues who only get noticed by word of mouth by supporters of the club, if the club happens to be lucky enough to be featured on BBC ALBA, or draw one of the big boys in one of the cup competitions.

Many teams build their foundations on a good back line and in particular a safe pair of hands with the goalkeeper and this is exactly what Stenhousemuir have done.

A young man by the name of Chris McCluskey is hitting the headlines for all the right reasons but many of you will not have heard the name unless you support the club or have seen him in action, that is until now.

This far travelled young man started out at St Roch's FC before being signed by Dick Campbell who was the Partick Thistle manager at the time and he brought Chris in as cover for Kenny Arthur and Colin Stewart.

After his time at Firhill he made the move to Iceland with First Division club Reynir Sandgeri and in his two years with the club he won promotion and had a very successful and enjoyable time with the club where he enjoyed a lavish lifestyle for a 17/18 year old.

“At such a young age I was not only enjoying my football but the rewards off the field were pretty amazing too; a club car, a flat - which myself and David Hannah shared - and the experience of full time football.

"Iit was a fantastic time for me, the club really knew how to look after its players.”

It was an experience that he will never forget and something he would not rule out in the future.

“It was a great time for me at such a young age but while I was there I worked hard and enjoyed my football and the lifestyle.

“My Mum and Dad life in Spain and I remember during a break in the season in Iceland, I not only trained with Hamilton Accies but I had a weeks training with Cadiz which was also really enjoyable.”

A recommendation from Alan Main and within half an hour he had his return ticket home as Michael O'Neill took a chance on him at Brechin City.

His time at Brechin was frustrating but knowledgeable as they had Craig Nelson as their first choice keeper but although he was the number one at the club and hard to shift, his influence and help would be crucial to young Chris as he learned his goalkeeping trade.

In his second season at Brechin he was sent out on loan to Albion Rovers for 14 matches and while he was there the scouts at Stenhousemuir took notice of this young talent and made recommendations that the club made moves to sign him and they did so in July 2009.

In his time at Stenhousemuir the young keeper's stock has rose and compliments and rewards have come his way as each game passes,"assured, safe pair of hands, agile and commands his defence with confidence and is very vocal just like every good goalkeeper should be!"

In his short time with the club, Chris has become a firm favourite with the players and fans and has just won no fewer than SIX Player of the Year Awards which in itself is a quite amazing achievement even Messi,Rooney or Drogba haven't won that many trophies this season.

The trophies that Chris has in his safe hands are as follows:

Directors Player of the Year Award
Players Player of the Year Award
Junior Supporters Club Player of the Year Award
Travelling Supporters Player of the Year Award
Supporters Club Player of the Year Award
Norwegian Supporters Club Player of the Year Award

Many fans players and Directors of the club have already told Chris that this clean sweep of honours has never been done before, in fact this is quite unique to see a keeper win so many awards, and the only one he didn’t win was goal of the season.

So you see all these groups of people hold this young man in very high regard indeed and at a time when most keepers would be quite glad to hang up their gloves for pre-season, Chris has decided to go for his professional UEFA goalkeeping coaching license in Largs along with the likes of Neil Alexander and Allan McGregor and other SPL keepers as he aims to add another string to his ever impressive bow.

“Trophies are fantastic and they are a bonus as this kind of feedback can only breed confidence and help me achieve my main goal which is and has always been, to play full time football.”

Keep an eye and an ear out for this young man in the future, if this season is anything to go by then we will be hearing a lot more about this young man for seasons to come.