FORMER Scotland goalkeeper Andy Goram will begin a two-month stint with English first division side Sheffield United tonight when he plays against Grimbsy Town but he hopes that the short-term contract will become long term in due course.
''I'm delighted to get the chance to play for Sheffield United,'' he said, ''and manager Steve Bruce was enthusiastic when he phoned me.''
He revealed that he might have been turning out against his favourite club, Rangers, tonight at Somerset Park as manager Gordon Dalziel had approached him to help out. ''The Sheffield deal had come up by then.''
Bruce is currently without both his keepers through injury and rates Goram highly. His regular keeper, Alan Kelly, is out for six weeks after having undergone surgery on a knee injury while stand-in Simon Tracey has a slight shoulder knock.
Bruce gave Goram his backing after a whirlwind move to sign him on a short-term deal.
He said: ''We needed somebody in to cover for them for two months because we don't have any money to buy anyone on a permanent deal.''
All going well, Goram will meet up with some familiar faces on Saturday when Sheffield meet Bradford where Stuart McCall and Stephen Wright will be in opposition.
However it goes at Sheffield, Goram has proved to the outside world with his display for Notts County at the weekend that he is as good as ever.
His career may be about to to go into restart.
That will be more than three months after his last major competitive match, when he turned out for Rangers in the cup final against Hearts. His decision to quit international football on the eve of Scotland's participation in the World Cup finals in France was followed by his exit from Ibrox, where the new manager Dick Advocaat had decided he wanted a new goalkeeper and bought French internationalist Lionel Charbonnier.
Despite his reputation as a superb keeper, Goram found that his knack of attracting front-page headlines had damaged his football cv and he has been waiting in vain for the phone call to kick-start his career. Now, after that break given to him at the weekend by Notts County manager Sam Allardyce, he may be on his way.
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