James Alfred Standen (born 30 May 1935) is an English 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, rugb ...

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 ...

in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

for Arsenal, Luton Town, West Ham United, Millwall and

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most d ...

. He won the

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 compet ...

and the European Cup Winners' Cup with West Ham. Standen was also a professional cricketer for Worcestershire, where he won a

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It b ...

Football career

Jim Standen started his footballing career at Rickmansworth, being discovered there by Leslie Compton who introduced him to Arsenal, where he joined the club in 1953. His appearances at Arsenal were limited, first by

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...

and then by the presence of

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

international Jack Kelsey. He finally made his debut for Arsenal against

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, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Br ...

on 7 December 1957. He then deputised for Kelsey when he was injured in the 1958–59 season and upon Kelsey's return the two goalkeepers shared the spot during the 1959–60 season. However, Kelsey regained the number one jersey outright at the start of 1960–61 and Standen left Arsenal for Luton Town in October 1960. He made 38 appearances for Arsenal in all. At Luton, Standen was forced to understudy again, this time for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

Ron Baynham Ronald Leslie Baynham (born 10 June 1929) is an English former footballer, best known as a goalkeeper for Luton Town. He is currently the oldest surviving player to have represented England. Playing career Baynham first took up goalkeeping du ...

. Standen then joined east London club West Ham United as an emergency signing after their regular keeper Lawrie Leslie suffered a broken leg in 1962. He became a big hit at Upton Park and went on to win the 1963–64 FA Cup and the

1964–65 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1964–65 season of the European Cup Winners' Cup club football tournament was won by West Ham United in a final at Wembley Stadium against 1860 Munich. West Ham's Bobby Moore captained a side that also included Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters ju ...

with the club. Altogether Standen made 179 league and 57 cup appearances for West Ham. After losing his place due to the arrival of Bobby Ferguson in 1967, Standen moved to the Detroit Cougars in the United States. He returned to England with Millwall for the 1969–70 season, playing eight games for the south London club before signing a two-year contract with

. After 13 games for Pompey, he retired from football. After his retirement, he owned a sports shop in

Camberley Camberley is a town in the Borough of Surrey Heath in Surrey, England, approximately south-west of Central London. The town is in the far west of the county, close to the borders of Hampshire and Berkshire. Once part of Windsor Forest, Camb ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

, before moving to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, where he was a goalkeeper coach at Fresno State University for a time.

Cricket career

As a cricketer, Standen was primarily a right-arm medium pace bowler. After previously playing for Chorleywood and in the Minor Counties Championship for

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For gov ...

, he joined Worcestershire in 1959 and played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

. He won the

with them in 1964, playing in 11 of the 28 games and heading the First Class bowling averages with 52 wickets at 14.42. The following season the county won the title again, but he played in only one match. In all he took 313 first-class wickets between 1959 and 1970 at an average of 25.34.

Honours

Football: West Ham United

: 1963–64 * FA Charity Shield: 1964 * European Cup Winners' Cup: 1964–65

Cricket: Worcestershire

: 1964

References

External links

Jim Standen
at westhamstats.info
Nostalgia Series; Jim Standen
at West Ham Till I Die {{DEFAULTSORT:Standen, Jim 1935 births Living people Footballers from Edmonton, London English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Arsenal F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Millwall F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players English cricketers Worcestershire cricketers International Cavaliers cricketers Hertfordshire cricketers Minor Counties cricketers English Football League players Cricketers from Greater London Detroit Cougars (soccer) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States California State University, Fresno people English expatriate sportspeople in the United States English expatriate men's footballers