Bert Trautmann

Bert Trautmann was considered by Lev Yashin as the only other world-class goalkeeper. He would become the best goalkeeper in Manchester City's history, despite having a virtually empty record.

590

Games

860

Goals Conceded

Clean Sheets

Trophy

1948/49 St Helens Town (ENG) 43 matches

1949/64 Manchester City (ENG) 545 matches

(English Premier League: 466 matches)

(English Premier League: 42 matches)

(English Cup: 33 matches)

(English League Cup: 2 matches)

1964 Wellington Town (ENG) 2 matches

Bernhard Carl Trautmann

Born October 22, 1923 in Bremen (GER)

Died July 19, 2013 in La Llosa (ESP)

German, Goalkeeper, 1m84

Nickname: Bert

Youth, World War II and new life in England

Bert Trautmann was born on October 22, 1923 in Bremen, Germany. His youth was marked by the Second World War, during which he joined the Hitler Youth. The conflict began when he was 16 and he joined the Luftwaffe with some of his friends, while he was already playing football as a left winger in Bremen and was an apprentice mechanic.

His dream was to become a pilot, but he eventually joined the airborne troops. He served on missions on various fronts, including Poland and Ukraine, where his exploits on the field and his escape from Soviet prisons made him a corporal. He was eventually taken prisoner in the Somme by French resistance fighters whom he managed to trick to return to Germany. He was again taken prisoner, this time by the English who sent him to a prison camp in Ashton near Manchester.

In 1948, after the Second World War, he returned to the world of football and decided to stay in England, at 25, the player started late in the professional world of football but he would quickly establish himself there. He played in the St-Helen's Town club before being spotted by Manchester City who wanted to replace Frank Swift.

The beginning of the adventure of Manchester City's greatest goalkeeper

Upon his arrival at the club, he was targeted by many Citizens supporters, at the time the club had a large Jewish community. The goalkeeper received hundreds of insulting letters, all sent to the club headquarters. And 25,000 people demonstrated, brandishing placards calling the recruit a "Nazi" and a "war criminal".

It would take time and a large number of big performances to silence the protesters. The player was also apprehensive about his first match. He gave his all, in order to show his worth, it was finally the Fulham supporters who gave him a standing ovation, a moment that remained forever in the player's memory.

Becoming a pillar of Manchester City, despite continued criticism and tensions about him, the goalkeeper would play the match of his life in 1956. A year after a lost FA Cup final, the club found itself in the final again, this time against Birmingham.

During this match and while Manchester City won 2-1, the goalkeeper found himself face to face with Peter Murphy, he dived into the opposing striker's goal, head first, the goalkeeper felt a strong pain in his neck but decided to continue the match. In the end, his club won the final 3-1, and Trautmann became the club's hero. At the end of the match, the player had to tilt his head to relieve the pain, he did an examination and the verdict fell: Trautmann played a quarter of an hour with several broken vertebrae in the neck.

An impossible international career

Voted Footballer of the Year in England in 1956, he became the first goalkeeper not from Great Britain to obtain this distinction. However, Trautmann would never play an international match for his country. He met German coach Sepp Herberger in 1953, who explained that he could not select a player who was not immediately available due to travel and political implications, and that he could only reconsider his position if Trautmann played for a German club. As a result, his playing in England prevented him from taking part in Germany's World Cup victory in 1954.

The legendary goalkeeper finally retired in 1964, after 15 years at the club, at the age of 40. He would also be considered by Yashin as the only other goalkeeper of his era to be at the very very highest level.