Willy Julie Guéret (born 3 August 1973) is a French former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a

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 ...

Career

Guéret was born in Saint-Claude, Guadeloupe. He joined Le Mans in 1996, playing alongside a young Didier Drogba, but moved to England on 28 July 2000 when he signed for

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...

. First-team opportunities were limited, however, and Guéret made only 18 starts for Millwall (with a further two as substitute) in all competitions. He was on the bench as Millwall lost the

2004 FA Cup Final The 2004 FA Cup Final was the 123rd FA Cup Final and the fourth to be played at the Millennium Stadium, the Welsh national stadium in Cardiff, due to the ongoing reconstruction of the usual venue, London's Wembley Stadium. The match took place o ...

to Manchester United, and contributed to two games earlier in the cup run against Telford United and

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

. On 1 July 2004, Guéret signed for Swansea City. The club achieved promotion from

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 ...

in his first season at

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

but Guéret's celebrations turned sour when the Swansea players entered the directors box against the orders of the game safety officer after the final whistle. Guéret and the other players were ordered by police to leave the directors box but Gueret was arrested for repeatedly telling a police officer to f**k off. Guéret was placed in a police van and taken to Bury police station where he was later released after being issued an £80 fixed penalty notice for disorder for an offence under s5 Public Order Act and was able to travel back from Greater Manchester to Swansea with his teammates. He expressed his wish to stay at the club until the end of his career. He would later go on to help Swansea win the 2006 Football League Trophy Final. However, having fallen out of favour at Swansea, Guéret signed for MK Dons on the opening day of the 2007–08 season. He was hailed by

Ray Mathias Raymond Mathias (born 13 December 1946) is an English football coach and former player. He has spent most of his career in the lower leagues of English football. Mathias played for Tranmere Rovers between 1964 and 1985, and remains their reco ...

as the best goalkeeper in

and would go on to win the Golden Glove that season, keeping 23 clean sheets in 52 games. Guéret saved a penalty in the 2008 Football League Trophy Final, in which MK Dons beat

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...

2-0 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 original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...

. On 1 February 2011, Guéret signed for Kettering Town after leaving the Dons by mutual consent. After six months at Kettering, Guéret announced his retirement from football. He was offered a coaching role with the MK Dons Academy but chose to return to France to set up a

cognac Cognac ( , also , ) is a variety of brandy named after the commune of Cognac, France. It is produced in the surrounding wine-growing region in the departments of Charente and Charente-Maritime. Cognac production falls under French appella ...

production company with his brother at

Gimeux Gimeux () is a commune in the Charente department in southwestern France. Population See also *Communes of the Charente department The following is a list of the 364 communes of the Charente department of France. The communes cooperate ...

in southern France.

Honours

Millwall *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third t ...

: 2000-01 *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

runner-up: 2003–04 Swansea City *

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 ...

third-place promotion: 2004–05 *

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

: 2005–06 Milton Keynes Dons *Football League Two: 2007–08 *Football League Trophy: 2007–08 Individual *

EFL Golden Glove The EFL Golden Glove, formerly Football League Golden Glove, is an annual association football award, given to the goalkeeper who has kept the most clean sheets in each of the three EFL divisions. Originally, clean sheets in the league (Champion ...

: League Two 2007–08

References

External links

*
LFP profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gueret, Willy 1973 births Living people People from Saint-Claude, Guadeloupe French men's footballers Guadeloupean men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Red Star F.C. players Le Mans FC players Millwall F.C. players Swansea City A.F.C. players Milton Keynes Dons F.C. players Kettering Town F.C. players Ligue 2 players English Football League players National League (English football) players French expatriate men's footballers Guadeloupean expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England French expatriate sportspeople in England French people of Guadeloupean descent