James David Stannard (born 6 October 1962) is an English retired

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), 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 i ...

. Whilst playing for Gillingham he set a record for the lowest number of goals conceded in a 46-match season 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, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

, when he let in just 20 goals in the 1995–96 season. Until 18 January 2013, he was first-team goalkeeping coach at

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

. Stannard is currently the first team goalkeeper coach for

Welling United Welling United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club, based in Welling in the London Borough of Bexley, England. The most prominent aspect of the club is its men's first team, who play in the , the seventh level of the E ...

Playing career

Having previously played for non-league Ford United (now Redbridge), Stannard began his professional career with

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

making his debut against Swindon Town in 1981 (keeping a clean sheet), but managed only 41

appearances for the

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football stadium in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 29,589; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game agains ...

club in his first five years, during which he was loaned out to

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth level of English football. The team are known as "The Shrimpers", a reference ...

and

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

. In 1985 Southend signed him on a permanent basis and he made over 100 appearances before being sold back to Fulham in 1987. For the next eight years he was Fulham's first-choice keeper. He was affectionately known by Fulham supporters as "He's fat, he's round, he's worth a million pounds" or "He's fat, he's round, he can't get off the ground". But Stannard never played against many top English teams as his term was during a time when Fulham were in the lower divisions of the Football League. In 1995 manager

Tony Pulis Anthony Richard Pulis (; born 16 January 1958) is a Welsh former professional football manager and former footballer who last managed Sheffield Wednesday. Pulis obtained his FA coaching badge at age 19, followed by his UEFA 'A' licence aged 2 ...

made him one of his first signings for Gillingham and, despite the fans' initial reservations about his age and burly build, Stannard proved instrumental in the

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

club's promotion from

Division Three The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the Third Division become the fourth tier of English football. In 2 ...

as he let in just 20 goals all season, a record for a 46-match league season. He also kept 29 clean sheets. Stannard was named in the 1995–96 PFA Division Three Team of the Year. Stannard retired in 1999, but came out of retirement to sign for Division Two side

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

on a non-contract basis in 2003, backing up

Alan Julian Alan John Julian (born 11 March 1983) is a former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is manager of club Hampton & Richmond Borough. Julian started his career at Brentford, progressing through the club's academy and making ...

for two matches during the early months of the 2003–04 season.

Coaching career

Stannard was forced to retire in 1999 due to injury and later served as goalkeeping coach at Gillingham and Brentford. In January 2005 he was appointed manager of non-league Redbridge, the club where he had started his career in 1980, but his reign only lasted until October of the same year. It was announced in July 2007 that he had returned to Gillingham as goalkeeping coach on a part-time basis. Stannard later served as goalkeeping coach for

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

from January 2008, until he was made redundant in May 2010. After this, he again returned to Gillingham on a part-time basis. Stannard left Gillingham to join

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

club

at the start of the 2011–12 season as first team goalkeeping coach. He was dismissed, along with manager

Nigel Adkins Nigel Howard Adkins (born 11 March 1965) is an English professional football manager and former footballer and physiotherapist. He was most recently the manager and technical director at Tranmere Rovers. Adkins played as a goalkeeper for Tran ...

, on 18 January 2013. In July 2013, he joined Chelmsford City as goalkeeping coach. In May 2018, following six years working with the club, he departed his role as goalkeeping coach at

Dagenham & Redbridge Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club (), often known simply as Dagenham and abbreviated when written to Dag & Red, is a professional association football club based in Dagenham, Greater London, England that play in the , the sixth level of the En ...

on account of a club reorganisation. Following his departure, he joined fellow

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

side

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...

in the same role, a role he held until September 2020. He subsequently joined Maidstone United, working for free at the club. In June 2024, Stannard was appointed goalkeeper coach at

National League South The National League South, officially Vanarama National League South, is a professional Association football league in England. National League South is the second division of the National League (English football), National Leagues and step ...

side

Honours

Individual * Gillingham Player of the Season: 1995–96 * Southend Player of the Season: 1986–87 *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's Football in England, En ...

: Division Three (1995–96), Division Four ( 1986–87)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stannard, Jim 1962 births Living people People from Harold Hill Footballers from the London Borough of Havering English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Gillingham F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Fulham F.C. players English Football League players Brentford F.C. players Redbridge F.C. managers Association football goalkeeping coaches Brentford F.C. non-playing staff Gillingham F.C. non-playing staff Crystal Palace F.C. non-playing staff Southampton F.C. non-playing staff Chelmsford City F.C. non-playing staff Bromley F.C. non-playing staff Maidstone United F.C. non-playing staff