Former Manchester United, Arsenal and Aston Villa goalkeeper Jimmy Rimmer has died at the age of 78.
Rimmer is the only English player to win the European Cup with two different clubs without being on the pitch when either final finished.
He earned a winner's medal with Manchester United as an unused substitute against Benfica at Wembley in 1968, before starting for Aston Villa against Bayern Munich in 1982.
He was recognised as one of the outstanding goalkeepers of his era, and was named by Gordon Banks as the 20th best in the world. Rimmer took the judgment as a compliment, rather than wondering how the England great had put so many others ahead of him.
He famously had to be substituted just nine minutes into the 1982 final, after suffering a neck injury in a collision with Swansea's Bob Latchford in a league game five days earlier.
Despite receiving cortisone injections to his shoulder and neck on the night of the match, Rimmer knew he could not continue and signalled to come off. He wept in the dressing room as his replacement, Nigel Spink, helped Villa secure the trophy in what became a career-defining role for the substitute.
He always refused to express regret to journalists over his early departure in the biggest game of his career, cutting them short when they asked. "You can't do that," he said. "We got to the final as a team. I couldn't be the Jimmy Rimmer people would expect me to be."
Early years at Manchester United
Rimmer was a product of the Manchester United youth system under Sir Matt Busby, and was part of the club's Youth Cup winning team in 1964.
Although the 20-year-old was firmly behind Alex Stepney in the pecking order when United beat Benfica in 1968, Rimmer later reflected on the privilege of being around players like George Best, Bobby Charlton and Denis Law.
He had made his first team debut on Easter Monday earlier that year, keeping a clean sheet in a 3-0 win over Fulham at Old Trafford after Stepney was injured. Playing in front of a crowd of 64,000, with another 10,000 locked outside, Rimmer did his job by making one save and handling a few crosses.
Rimmer took Busby's advice to heart. "He treated you like a man," Rimmer later said. "You knew not to do silly things because if you did that with him, you were going upstairs for a chat in the office."
He credited Harry Gregg, the former United goalkeeper and Munich air disaster survivor, with giving him the best advice of his career as a goalkeeping coach. Gregg advised Rimmer: "Catch the ball. Get some shape in your hands. Cover your near post. They're not so good at the near post these days."
Move to Arsenal
Gregg also convinced Rimmer, then aged 23, to join Fourth Division Swansea on loan, before recommending him to Arsenal scout Gordon Clark. Rimmer signed for Bertie Mee's Arsenal in April 1974.
He proved to be a fine successor to Bob Wilson, who retired at the end of that season, and missed only three games in three years after being elevated to first choice. During this period, he earned his only cap for England, playing against Italy in 1976. Further international opportunities were limited, with Ray Clemence and Peter Shilton ahead of him in the pecking order.
In an interview with the Daily Mail's Matt Barlow two years ago, Rimmer recalled his introduction to the differing culture at Arsenal after making his debut in a 1-0 win at Liverpool. Thinking he was the victim of a prank, he was offered prawn cocktail or smoked salmon on the bus home.
"At United, the bus driver would go and get fish and chips, and now there's two fellas asking me what starter I'd like, whether I want steak or chicken and red or white wine," he said. "That's why they're called the Arsenal. It's nothing but the best and I'd come from Man United."
Aston Villa success
Rimmer later moved to Aston Villa, where he missed only one match in five years before the fateful 1982 European Cup final.
He admitted he was hard on himself after making errors. "I'd go into my own world when I made a mistake," he said. "I used to hold them in and think about them for too long."
He added: "Harry Gregg would say, 'Oh, you're the only one who ever made a mistake, are you?' But you can't go around telling people about all the great saves you made."
Coaching and later life
After ending his playing career at Swansea, a city he came to call home, Rimmer twice served as the Welsh club's caretaker manager.
He later spent three years working as a goalkeeping coach in China. Initially planning to stay for three months, he lived rent-free in a suite at the Shangri-La hotel in Beijing. Characteristically, he attributed his longevity in the role not to his technical capabilities, but to his respect and love for the local culture.
Eighteen years ago, while living in Vancouver, Rimmer suffered a heart attack that left him in a coma for 11 days. He subsequently moved back to South Wales to live closer to his son David, one of his three children.
He continued to follow Swansea City and occasionally spoke in the club's matchday lounges. When greeting people, he would apologise for not having a firm handshake, explaining that his artificial joints were the penalty for his career between the posts.
He was content in his own company, enjoying a beer alone in the corner of a local pub. It amused him to think that regular customers would observe him and remark: "That quiet fella in the corner used to be famous."
Rimmer would not have had the game's ups and downs any other way. Looking back on a career that took him to clubs in London, Wales, the Midlands and the North West, he rejected the label of a great.
"People call me a legend but I don't see it like that," he said. "I played with legends though, that's for sure."
