Jamie Langfield

James Robert "Jamie" Langfield (born 22 December 1979) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for St Mirren. He started his career with Dundee and also played for Partick Thistle and Dunfermline Athletic before joining Aberdeen in 2005. He was part of the Aberdeen team that won the Scottish League Cup in 2014. Langfield played for Scotland in a B international.

Career

Early career

Langfield was born in Paisley and started his career as a youth player at Dundee and went on to play for Partick Thistle,^[1] Raith Rovers (loan) and Dunfermline Athletic.^[2]

Aberdeen

Langfield signed for Aberdeen in 2005.^[3] At the start of his Aberdeen career, Langfield was the second-choice goalkeeper behind Ryan Esson, but he soon took over from Esson as first choice and during season 2006–07, Aberdeen finished third and qualified for the UEFA Cup.

In May 2007, he rejected a move to Rangers,^[4] preferring the option of more first-team opportunities at Aberdeen. In June 2007, while enjoying his stag party on holiday in Magaluf, he had a drunken argument with Aberdeen manager Jimmy Calderwood after bumping into him in a chance encounter. Langfield, himself, says he wasn't able to remember his drunken argument with Calderwood, as he was so drunk.^[5] His Aberdeen future was in doubt.^[6] The club later confirmed that they had made him available for transfer, with an asking price of £100,000.^[7] As a result of the incident, Langfield was not only demoted to the bench, with Derek Soutar made first choice, but it caused some supporters to turn on him.^[8]

Having been on the bench for the first six matches, Langfield played his first match of the season: a 0–0 draw against Ukrainian side Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk.^[9] Aberdeen went through to the next round after a 1–1 draw in the second leg, which resulted in a victory on away goals.^[10][11] The day after Aberdeen's UEFA cup victory over FC Copenhagen on 20 December 2007, Langfield signed a three-year extension to his contract which will keep him at the club until 2011.^[12] During February 2008 Langfield experienced a drop in form. This started on 5 February when Aberdeen lost to Dundee United in the CIS Insurance Cup 4–1.^[13] This led him being dropped as a first choice, but once again, regained it after being on the bench for seven matches.

Langfield was ever present in the league for the 2008–09 season and was linked a move to England, but was happy to stay at Aberdeen.^[14] After Jimmy Calderwood left the club at the end of the season, he said Langfield was looking to leave the club but the player pledged his commitment to the club.^[15]

Ahead of the 2010–11 season, in July 2010, Langfield injured himself by spilling boiling water on his foot.^[16] Because of the injury, Langfield didn't return to the team until 18 September 2010, in a 1–1 draw against Motherwell and after the game, Langfield described the injury as "a freak accident and it was bloody painful."^[17] Langfield was in goal as Celtic beat Aberdeen 9–0 on 9 November 2010. The match holds the record not only as the biggest ever win in the SPL, but it is also the biggest ever defeat in Aberdeen's history.^[18] Langfield revealed he was in tears following the match.^[19] Langfield also said he will be remembered as a keeper who conceded nine goals for the rest of his career.^[20] Then, on 11 December 2010, he conceded five goals, in a 5–0 loss against Hearts.^[21] Langfield played his 200th match in his Aberdeen career, in a 2–0 win over St Mirren.^[20]

In May 2011, Langfield signed a one-year extension to his Aberdeen contract.^[22] Langfield was previously told he had to take a pay-cut if he were to stay at the club, having been amongst three of the Dons' highest-paid players.^[23]

Later that month, he suffered a brain seizure and was taken to hospital in Glasgow.^[24] Two days later, he was released from the hospital, as he continued his recovery.^[25] Manager Craig Brown said he would allow Langfield to decide when he would resume playing and said he won't be back in action until he is 100 per cent.^[26] He returned to training in September 2011.^[27] Following his return, Manager Brown says he was considering letting Langfield join a club on loan, describing it as "a bit premature to be thinking about putting him into the first team".^[28] Langfield admitted he thought the seizure could have ended his career.^[29] Langfield says he believes his brain seizure can make him a better keeper and he would be taking medication in case of another seizure.^[30] Then, Langfield was loaned to Forfar Athletic in November for one month to gain some match practice.^[31] After making two appearances, Langfield returned to Aberdeen.

After nine months out, Langfield made his return to the Aberdeen first team in a 2–0 win over Inverness Caledonian Thistle on 21 April 2012.^[32][33] After the match, Langfield says enjoyed making his comeback.^[34]

After speculation in March 2012, that Langfield could leave the club in order to search for regular first team football,^[35] he was offered a new contract on 25 April 2012,^[36] and then signed a two-year contract seven days later.^[37]

The start of the 2012–13 season saw Langfield start the opening game against champions Celtic. Aberdeen lost the game 1–0 with the only goal coming from Kris Commons, a shot which Langfield let slip under his body. The goalkeeper was then subject to abuse on the social networking site Twitter, with references made to his brain seizure that he had suffered the previous year.^[38] In November, he went a second scheduled operation and following this, he was given the all clear.^[39] On 15 December 2012, Langfield was sent-off after a straight red card following a foul on Borja Perez in the penalty box, resulting a penalty.^[40] After the match, the club said they would appeal his sending off,^[41] but this was rejected by The Scottish Football Association, meaning he will serve a one match suspension.^[42] Langfield scored an own goal on 2 January 2013, in a 2–2 draw against the club's rivals, Dundee United.^[43] Following a 0–0 draw against Hibernian on 22 April 2013, Langfield earned his 84th SPL clean-sheet, which is a step closer to overtaking Stefan Klos, Allan McGregor and Rab Douglas, the only players with more.^[44]

In the 2013–14 season, Langfield gave away a penalty and received a red card in the third match of the season, as Aberdeen lost 2–0 against Celtic.^[45] In September and October 2013, Langfield only conceded a total of two goals. The following month, Langfield signed a contract extension, keeping him at the club until 2016.^[46] Langfield started in goal in the Scottish League Cup final against Inverness Caledonian Thistle, where he played the entire match which finished 0–0 after extra–time, going to a penalty-shootout. Aberdeen won 4–2 on penalties, with Langfield saving one of the Inverness penalties to win the match.^[47] After the match, Langfield said "winning a cup at Parkhead with a team I love and I want to be part of. That’s incredible."^[48] The club's goalkeeper coach Jim Leighton said of Langfield: "I’ve never seen Jamie play better than he is at the moment. It’s great to see him reaping the rewards for the effort I see him putting in at training every day."^[49]

The 2014-15 season started well for Langfield when he started and played all 90 minutes in the club's six matches in the Europa League, in which he kept three clean-sheet. Langfield then started as a first-choice goalkeeper until Langfield conceded three goals in a 3–0 defeat to Hamilton Academical on 17 October 2014.^[50] As a result, Langfield was placed on the bench after Scott Brown was made first choice for the match against Motherwell.^[51] Langfield made his return to the first team on 13 March 2015, in a 2–1 win over Motherwell^[52] and was featured for two more matches before being replaced by Brown as a first choice again for the rest of the season. Despite making thirteen appearance in the 2014–15 season, Langfield was awarded a testimonial by Aberdeen in 2015.^[53] Langfield was also considered for the club's goalkeeping coach before the role went to Gordon Marshall.^[54]

On 26 July 2015 Langfield played his testimonial match against Brighton and Hove Albion in a match that ended 1-0 with Adam Rooney scoring the only goal. At half time some of Langfield's former teammates played in a mini match including Darren Mackie Lee Miller Derek Young Lee Mair Barry Nicholson Scott Severin and Michael Hart. Langfield later tweeted "Thank you for everything always in mine and my family's hearts #COYR." On August 11, 2015, Aberdeen announced that they had reached an agreement with Langfield to terminate the remainder of his contract with the club.^[55]

St Mirren

On 13 August 2015, Langfield signed a two-year player-coach contract with St Mirren.^[56]

International

Langfield has made one Scotland B appearance. He has been called up to the full Scotland team several times but has yet to play.^[57][58]

Career statistics

As of 4 December 2016

Honours

Aberdeen

• Scottish League Cup Winner: 1

2013–14

Personal life

Jamie grew up in Paisley, Scotland with his parents and 3 younger brothers and younger sister. Following his brain seizure that affected his career, Langfield helped raise money for the charity, BareAll4BTs, which helps those affected by brain tumours, by auctioning his gloves.^[59]

References

External links

• Jamie Langfield career statistics at Soccerbase
  
• Guardian Stats Centre