Englands Number 1?

definitely calamity for me

Absolutely concur - Hart has to be the pick. Everyone that has worked with him says he has a calm demeanour, something James doesn't have when he is on the pitch and something Green seems to lack as well as I have seen him flustered quite a bit in West Ham games I have had the pleasure of watching. Although that could have a lot to do with the shoddy back-four often standing still in front of him.

I suspect that you may be right about Capello there. I just think Joe Hart is a calmer option. Not all goalkeepers who perform very well for struggling teams go on to play well for better teams where the goalkeeper has to stay alert for the moments that truly matter. Some keepers are better suited to shots raining in on them rather than making no saves for 87 minutes.

Normally I would go for Joe Hart who appears to be a great shot-stopper, great with crosses, good communicator and organiser; but I was surprised to read in the Guardian article that I posted in the World Cup 2010 thread yesterday morning how Capello was continuing to have to "tell him off" for hoofing the ball upfield when he had been given clear instructions to play it out short to his defence.

Either he's stupid (which I don't believe), nervous under pressure (ie big game situation, not lumping great forward bearing down on him; which would make playing him in a World Cup so soon in his career seem ill-advised) or maybe just a bit forgetful (which would put him on a par with David James).

My own personal view is that while Joe Hart is potentially the better goalkeeper for the future, I would go for David James now based on his experience and the form he was showing for Portsmouth in the latter stages of the season just gone.

Yes, he might have the occasional "Calamity" moment but I feel that over the past year or two he has saved a lot more "certain" goals than he has given away. Shame I can't quantify that feeling but there you go...

Robert Green has also had a few dodgy moments recently, but Calamity Green doesn't pun the back-pages as obviously as Calamity James.

I wouldn't rate any of the England keepers in the bracket needed to be called truly "World Class".

For someone of my age, to have to say that is a salutory experience. When I was a kid the England goalkeeper was Ron Springett and later Gordon Banks. Peter Shilton followed and we could truly say that we had the best keepers in the world. In the Springett/Banks era there was the Russian Lev Yashin who had been widely regarded as the world's no 1 and then the magnificent Banks superceded even him.

Othe superb goalkeepers who spring to mind throughout my life would include Italy's Dino Zoff, the Mexican Ignacio Calderon; and nowadays the present day Spaniard Iker Casillas and Brazil's Julio Cesar all represent the standard of which we fall well short in this country at this time....................I feel sorry for Fabio Capello in that he has become manager of England (the historical home of great goalkeepers) at such a low point in our history for custodians ~ he is entitled to expect better.

Perhaps the clue lays in something I heard on Tuesday night when chatting to the coach of a very decent East End youth football club. He told me that for the third year summer running he finds himself looking for a good goalkeeper for what will be an under 14 team next season as his latest (very good) keeper has decided to "take a year out" and seek to play outfield next season. This followed last summer when his previous keeper's father bullied him into giving up playing in goal on the basis that he could "keepy uppy" with the best of them and the year before, when that keeper went the way of the present one.

Even Aman, the goalie of Anthony's Under 9 team; who is a superb keeper, only took up the position seriously last summer after unsuccessfully begging to be allowed to play outfield................now he is being invited to trial for Chelsea!

Add in the "wobbly ball" and the general glamourising of players like Ronaldo, Messi and Beckham ~ is it any wonder we now struggle to produce a decent keeper for England?