Former Bantams keeper coach Dittmer has key role for England

Jordan Pickford’s Valley Parade grounding with Phil Parkinson has been well-publicised on his route to becoming the number one.

But he is not the only member of the national team’s keepers’ union to have a Bantams past.

The FA and England’s head of goalkeeping Tim Dittmer also earned his stripes with a year in BD8.

Dittmer was combining playing in goal for non-league Marine with coaching in the academy at Liverpool when Peter Taylor gave him a shout in July 2010.

Nigel Martyn had been overseeing City’s goalkeepers on a part-time basis when Taylor succeeded Stuart McCall earlier that year.

But the new boss wanted a more permanent arrangement and gave Dittmer his break at senior level.

“I absolutely love Nigel Martyn and it was a difficult decision for me at Bradford,” recalled Taylor.

“I wanted the goalie coach to come in all the time and unfortunately Nigel couldn’t do it. He just did a couple of days a week.

“Otherwise, I’d have kept him there and it wouldn’t have been a problem. But it didn’t feel right not having someone there every day and I said that to the chairman.

Tim Dittmer, second left middle row, with Peter Taylor's Bradford City team in 2010

“I spoke to Martyn Thomas from the FA, who I know very well, and he recommended a few names. Tim was one of them.

“He came to us and did very well. He used to come over every day from Warrington and was very good with the keepers.

“He was only 25 at the time (three years older than first-choice Jon McLaughlin) but I think that’s the way it’s going, even more so now.

“The goalie coaches have to be fit because they have to keep feeding that ball into people – it doesn’t half take some strength in their legs.”

Dittmer was only with City for one season but learned fast during a fraught period when their position in the league hung in the balance.

He stayed on after Taylor’s exit and was even handed a squad number as back-up at one stage as Peter Jackson frantically shopped around to bring in loan keepers for the start of the following season.

But then Man City came head-hunting for Dittmer who accepted a role with their academy – “he’s living the dream” as Jackson put it at the time.

After just over two years at Eastlands, Dittmer moved on to St George’s Park as a goalkeeping coach educator and his rise through FA ranks began.

Taylor is glad to have paid his small part in that.

He told the T&A: “When I then left Bradford, I got a phone call from one of the top men in the FA saying that Tim Dittmer had put in for a job and would I recommend him.

“I just said, ‘yep, don’t hesitate because he’s very good, very organised and puts on good sessions.’

“He was very keen and hungry and that was it. The FA took him on as one of the regional coaches at first and since then he ain’t stopped improving.

“The good thing about it at the FA is that you’ve got more time to look at all different things. You can improve your knowledge so much.

“You can either sit on your backside and do nothing and make out you’re busy, or you can get on that computer or iPad and see how other coaches do it and then go and watch different sessions.

“There’s a great opportunity there if you are serious about your job and it’s obvious that’s what Tim is.

“I haven’t spoken to Tim for a couple of years but just before then he rang to thank me for putting a good word in for him. I’m really pleased to see him doing so well.”

Dittmer became the FA’s lead national goalkeeping coach before the head of goalkeeping role that he has held since August 2018.

He is a big believer in the psychological side of the game – particularly in a position where it can feel pretty lonely at times.

In an interview with the FA.com, Dittmer said: “For me, 70 per cent of being a goalkeeper is mental. On the pitch you’re on your own, no matter what anyone says.

“You’ve got to make split-second decisions and when it’s the wrong one, everyone’s hands are flying up in the air and they’re asking what you’re doing.”

Taylor has been out of football since losing his job at Dagenham in December 2019. But rejuvenated from an operation on his right knee, the 68-year-old is not ready to give up on the game just yet.

“I’m walking every day and fit for my age,” he said. “But the phone doesn’t seem to ring for what I want.

“I am interested in being a number one but if something happened as a two or a three, I’d jump at it.”