Last month we <a href="http://www.canadiansoccernews.com/content.php?5141-AFTN-launches-our-Vancouver-Whitecaps-All-Time-Greats" target="_blank"><u>announced</u></a> the launch of our search to find Vancouver Whitecaps' All-Time Greats in honour of the Caps' 40th anniversary and it's kicking off in all it's glory today.
Our <b>Vancouver Whitecaps All-Time Greats</b> is an interactive series allowing everyone (fans, media, anyone!) to vote for the best Vancouver Whitecaps (and Vancouver 86ers), position by position, from the first forty years.
The Caps' teams will be split into three eras, including those under both the Caps and 86ers names, with the ultimate aim to select the best XI from the <b>NASL days (1974 to 1984)</b>, the <b>CSL/D2 days (1987 to 2010)</b> and the <b>MLS days (2011 to present day)</b>. All teams will line up in a 4-4-2 formation.
Once we've got the three era teams, we'll narrow those down, position by position, for the final team - the Vancouver Whitecaps All-Time Greats XI. We hope to expand this part of the selection process in association with one of the local newspapers.
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Now we know it's going to be tricky. Three different sets of fanbases, in numbers and memories. You don't have to have experienced the early days to vote, just be aware of the Caps storied history and we'll help you with suggestions along the way.
To try and avoid too much of a MLS bias (and frankly there are not many of the current era that you would expect to be in the final All-Time XI at this point in time but maybe when we do it again ten years from now), we're going to try and canvas the views of as many people as possible across a variety of means.
Every Sunday we'll run an article on here to vote for a certain position for a certain team. Each team's position will be allocated an article and a week to itself and we'll chat about some of the possible contenders for the crown to job memories.
Plan is to have three era individual team articles for: Goalkeeper, Right back, Left back, Central Defenders, Midfield, Forward line and then select a manager for each team. We'll then run another seven articles to narrow down the all-time team from the three era selections to just one all-time winner.
We'll include votes in the article comments, on Twitter, on Facebook, on the Southsiders forum and possibly via a couple of other means. Voting will run from the Sunday till 11.59pm on the Friday.
After that we'll tally up the votes and announce our winner on the Saturday, along with a career article on the winning players to come.
Hopefully we'll generate some good discussions, memories and stories of players from the past and present. It's the latter I'm most looking forward to.
So, summary over, we kick the series off today as we try and narrow down a NASL goalkeeper.
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The Whitecaps played eleven NASL seasons from 1974 to 1984. 18 goalkeepers were on the Caps' books during that era, with 15 of them seeing game time.
Despite those many players, the number of genuine candidates for the keeper of our NASL XI is much lower.
Many of those players were depth guys who never saw the pitch for much first team action. A third of them played three or less games for the club, but did dot around the league for various teams.
So what makes an all time great or an era best player? Do you want to go with someone who has made the biggest impact for the Whitecaps alone or do you want to look at their overall career?
For me, it should be about what they did for the club and their contribution and commitment to Vancouver Whitecaps folklore.
So what such players have gone down in the Caps history books?
If you go back to the very start, Bermudan <b>Sam Nusum</b> (17 appearances) and Canadian <b>Greg Weber</b> (3 appearances) shared the goalkeeping duties in the Whitecaps' debut NASL season in 1974. One of only two that they didn't make the playoffs.
Weber (pictured) went on to play for Vancouver in each of their first three seasons. He made 21 appearances for the club in total, recording 6 clean sheets, conceding 29 goals and playing 1927 minutes for the club.
Nusum made 67 appearances in a four year NASL career, where he also played for Montreal Olympique and New York Cosmos.
<b>Arnie Mausser</b> played all 26 games for the Whitecaps in 1977 as the Caps finished second in the Pacific Conference and lost the divisional Championship game to Seattle. He played 2386 minutes, keeping 8 clean sheets and conceding 44 goals over the season.
Mausser had a 19 year career in various American leagues, including 11 in NASL, much of which was spent in Florida with the Tampa Bay Rowdies, Fort Lauderdale Strikers and Jacksonville Tea Men. Mausser also made 35 appearances for the US national team between 1975 and 1985 and was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2003.
<b>Phil Parkes</b> (pictured) played three seasons for the Whitecaps, and what a trio of seasons they were for the big stopper and the team.
Parkes first came to Vancouver in 1976 after 12 seasons with Wolves. He made 20 appearances in his debut season, clocking up 1836 minutes, six clean sheets and conceding 25 goals. The Whitecaps finished third in the Pacific Conference, making the playoffs for the very first time in their history, losing to Seattle in the first round.
The keeper returned back to Wolves and sat out the 1977 season before returning to Vancouver to play in 1978 and 1979. Parkes was an ever present in 1978, making 29 appearances and 2650 minutes. His ten clean sheets, conceding just 28 goals along the way, helped guide the Whitecaps to their first Western Division championship before bowing out to Portland in the Conference semi finals. His performances also won Parkes the NASL Goalkeeper of the Year award.
It was an award he was to win again in 1979, but he also won something much bigger - a Soccer Bowl winners medal. Parkes played in 29 of Vancouver's 30 games, playing 2705 minutes, keeping seven clean sheets and conceding 29 goals along the way. Parkes and Vancouver's greatest NASL achievement came when the Caps beat Tampa Bay Rowdies 2-1 to lift the Soccer Bowl.
Parkes moved on to Chicago in 1980 leaving behind a Whitecaps career of 78 appearances, 2705 minutes and 23 clean sheets (29.4%) - all team leading stats for the era. He played eight years in total in North America, six of them in NASL, including a late stint with Toronto Blizzard.
Liverpool legend <b>Bruce Grobbelaar</b> (pictured) was Parkes' back up for the 1979 season, making one appearance that Soccer Bowl winning year before taking over as the starting keeper for the 1980 season, where he made a further 23 appearances for the Caps. The Zimbabwean kept eight clean sheets in his 24 appearances and let in 30 goals as the defending Soccer Bowl champs finished 3rd in the West and lost in the first round of the playoffs to Seattle. He also played nine times for the Caps during the 1980/81 NASL indoor season.
Grobbelaar made the move to Liverpool in 1981 after being spotted in a loan spell at Crewe and the rest is history to the Kop faithful. He went on to make 440 appearances for the Reds over 13 seasons, winning six First Division titles, three FA Cups, three League Cups and the 1984 European Cup amongst an impressive career trophy haul. He also made 33 appearances for his country.
The departure of Parkes and Grobbelaar in consecutive seasons paved the way for Englishman <b>Barry Siddall</b> to make the starting keeper spot his own in 1981. Siddall made 24 appearances that year, registering just one clean sheet and conceding 55 goals in his 1890 minutes as the Caps won the NorthWest Division but lost in the first round of the playoffs to Tampa Bay Rowdies.
Siddall had come to Vancouver after long spells with Bolton and Sunderland. After his one season in Canada he became something of a journeyman, playing for 12 clubs and having a 22 year career before he retired.
Scotsman <b>David Harvey</b> came to Vancouver in 1980 with a great career already to his name. He had lost his place as the first choice keeper at Leeds and struggled to make the number one jersey his own in Vancouver, not helped by injuries sustained in a car accident. In the end he only made 19 appearances for the Whitecaps over the three years, keeping three clean sheets and conceding 30 goals, and a return back to Elland Road followed.
Harvey was a Leeds United legend and made 349 appearances for them from 1965 to 1985, winning a plethora of medals in the process. He also played 16 times for Scotland, including at the 1974 World Cup Finals in West Germany where he played in all three group matches, conceding only one goal in a win and two draws, but still went out of the tournament on goal difference.
Born in Italy, but raised in Canada, <b>Tino Lettieri</b> (pictured) made the Whitecaps keeper's jersey his own in 1982 and 1983. Lettieri spent 11 years in the NASL and MISL, with all but these two of them spent in Minnesota (first with the Kicks and then with the Strikers). He is the second longest serving goalkeeper for Vancouver in the NASL era, playing 55 games and 5100 minutes over his two season, keeping 15 clean sheets and conceding 59 goals.
Lettieri was a member of Canada's 1976 and 1984 Olympic teams and the 1986 World Cup team, making 23 appearances for his country overall and being inducted into the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame. He was also named North American Goalkeeper of the Year in 1983.
The Whitecaps last starting keeper of the NASL days was former English under 21 international <b>Paul Bradshaw</b>. Bradshaw made 24 appearances during the Whitecaps final NASL season in 1984. He played 2161 minutes, keeping four clean sheets and letting in 46 goals as the Whitecaps finished second in the Western Conference and went out of the playoffs at the semi final stage to Chicago Sting.
Bradshaw headed back to England and in total had a 20 year career there, playing for Blackburn, Wolves, West Brom and Peterborough amongst others.
Other keepers to see gametime for the Whitecaps during the MLS era were:
<b>Peter Greco</b> (8 appearances, 720 minutes, 2 clean sheets, former Canadian international - 1975)
<b>Steve Humphries</b> (1 appearance, 90 minutes, 0 clean sheets, English, played with Leicester City amongst others - 1978)
<b>David Henderson</b> (3 appearances, minutes unknown, had long League of Ireland career - 1981)
<b>Randy Keen</b> (1 appearance, 90 minutes, kept clean sheet, BC guy - 1981)
<b>PJ Johns</b> (3 appearances, 219 minutes, 0 clean sheets, American, had three seasons with Edmonton Drillers before Caps, then long career in MISL and NPSL - 1983)
<b>Chris Turner</b> (1 appearance, 90 minutes, 0 clean sheets, BC guy, 7 year NASL career with San Jose, LA and Seattle - 1984)
Let's also not forget to give a shout out to <b>Graham Barclay</b> (1976), <b>Graham Moseley</b> (1977) and <b>Vanni Fabbro</b> (also 1977), who were all on Whitecaps rosters but never played a NASL minute for the Caps or anyone else.
So there you have them. The Whitecaps NASL keepers.
We did the most thorough research we could (can't promise the rest of this series will be!), but if we missed anyone out or have some wrong info on any of them, then please let us know.
Now it's up to you guys for the voting.
Who is your pick to make the <b>Vancouver Whitecaps NASL XI</b> as starting keeper?
Let us know below, on <a href="http://www.twitter.com/aftncanada" target="_blank"><u>Twitter</u></a>, on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/aftn.canada/" target="_blank"><u>Facebook</u></a> or on the <a href="http://vancouversouthsiders.ca/forum/discussion/4165/vancouver-whitecaps-all-time-greats#Item_1" target="_blank"><u>Southsiders</u></a> forum. You can leave your comment under your name or as anonymous, whatever is easier for you.
But also for those of you of a certain age, share your memories and stories of any of these guys for us all to enjoy.
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