Francesco "Frank" Talia (born 20 July 1972 in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

) is an Australian former professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

, who last played for

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their home ...

Football League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

Career

Early career

He was an

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

scholarship holder from 1989 to 1990. Talia began his career at Australian club Sunshine Georgies before moving to

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

in August 1992. Although he was at the club for three years, Talia did not make any first-team appearances for Blackburn and following this he moved to

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...

in September 1995 after a loan spell at

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

. For a while, he was Blackburn's second choice goalkeeper behind Bobby Mimms before the arrival of

Tim Flowers Timothy David Flowers (born 3 February 1967) is an English football manager and former player who recently was the manager of Stratford Town. He played as a goalkeeper from 1984 until 2003, notably in the Premier League for Blackburn Rovers w ...

in November 1993, and had been issued with the number 13 shirt with the introduction of squad numbers for the 1993-94 season in the FA

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

. He made several appearances as a non-playing substitute, the last at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

in August 1995 when he watched from the bench as Blackburn (Premier League champions) were beaten 1-0 by Everton in the

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...

. Talia made over 100 appearances in five years at

Swindon Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon un ...

winning the player of the year award in 2000 before moving to

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

in September 2000, where he made six appearances. In March 2002, Talia signed a short-term contract with English Division 2 side

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

, sitting on the bench for the final six games of the season.

Wycombe

Lawrie Sanchez Lawrence Philip Sanchez (born 22 October 1959) is a Northern Irish football manager and former international footballer. The defining moment of his playing career came in the 1988 FA Cup Final, when he scored the winning goal for Wimbledon ag ...

signed Talia for Wycombe in August 2002 on a free transfer as cover for regular Wycombe goalkeeper Martin Taylor. His chance came against

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

after Taylor developed a back problem and he continued in goal after Taylor gashed his knee at the Wycombe's training ground. Talia then made over 100 appearances for the club, despite being sidelined when he sliced his toe with a lawn-mower in 2004 and a knee injury that side-lined him for six months in August 2006,.

References

External links

Official Wycombe profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Talia, Frank 1972 births Living people Soccer players from Melbourne Australian people of Italian descent Sportspeople of Italian descent Men's association football goalkeepers Australian expatriate men's soccer players Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium English Football League players Belgian Pro League players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Royal Antwerp F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Australian Institute of Sport soccer players Australian men's soccer players Australian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Australian expatriate sportspeople in England