Scott Carson Bio Send To Friend  

The curious case of Scott Carson continued when he made West Bromwich Albion the latest in a series of staging posts of an already nomadic career. The main difference was that this was a permanent move.
Baggies paid a £3.25 million fee, rising to to £3.75 million, with an option for the club to extend the contract by another year after it became clear that his long-term future at Liverpool was that of a reserve to Pepe Reina.

After a fine season with Aston Villa, he seemed odds-on to join the Villans on a permanent move but, as part of a wrangle over Gareth Barry, Villa baulked at the £10m pricing of the goalkeeper. Their ire was perhaps increased by the fact that much lower bids from Stoke and West Brom were accepted by the Reds.

Carson's 2004 move to Liverpool from Leeds United failed to bring him much first-team football and he was restricted to being behind Jose Reina and Jerzy Dudek.

Goalkeeper Carson first became known when enjoying something of a worldwind couple of weeks early in the 2003/04 season.

With Paul Robinson suspended, Carson made his full debut on February 21 in the grudge match against Manchester United at Old Trafford. And Carson was a revelation as relegation-threatened Leeds earned a surprise point.

In January 2005 both Chelsea and Liverpool made bids for the keeper.

He chose Liverpool due to the supposed greater chance of getting first team action. Liverpool paid an undisclosed sum, believed to be £750,000 rising to £1million.

Carson made his Liverpool debut in a 1-0 win at Newcastle. And he was thrust into first team action at the end of the campaign when Dudek was injured.

The 'keeper also made his European debut, playing in the superb 2-1 home win over Juventus in the Champions League quarter-finals.

The signing of Jose Reina for 2005/06 pushed him down the pecking order and he began the first of a series of loan moves. Sheffield Wednesday was the first of these during 2005/6 and he helped them escape relegation from the Championship. And earned himself a new contract at Liverpool into the bargain.

In a bid to gain experience he was loaned to Charlton Athletic for the entire 2006/7 season. And while the Addicks got relegated, Carson was a real success, earning the supporters' Player of the Year.

In June 2007, Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez confirmed that he would be part of the first-team squad for the 2007 08 season, saying 'He must fight with Pepe Reina now for a starting place.'

However, with Carson the second choice to Reina and the signing of Charles Itandje in August 2007, Carson was loaned out again to Aston Villa for a fee of £2 million.

Villa manager Martin O'Neill preferred Carson to Thomas Sorensen and Stuart Taylor and he played in all but three of Villa's 38 league matches, keeping 11 clean sheets, during the 200708 season.

His performances for Villa and Charlton led to a press clamour for him for to play for England and boss Steve McClaren, ever the man to listen to the media, finally gave him his head in England's crucial Euro 2008 qualifier with Croatia. It was disastrous decision and Carson gaffed for two goals as England exited the tournament. Carson had only played for England once before - in a warm-up friendly with Austria.

At one point, Carson was England's most capped U21 international, and starred for his country at the 2007 European Championships at that level.