French goalkeeper Cedric Berthelin has detailed how he ended up at Crystal Palace during his playing career, and a memorable clash against Liverpool he’ll never forget.
Berthelin is currently the goalkeeper coach at Royal Charleroi Sporting Club in Belgium, having moved into the coaching side of the game when his playing career came to an end.
He had formerly been a goalkeeper himself, playing for clubs in France, England and Belgium, all of which he has sat down to speak about with L’Avenir.
After starting at RC Lens in France the goalkeeper moved to Luton in 2002 but found himself without a club not long after a trial, when the club were blocked from signing any players.
He eventually ended up at Crystal Palace, where he spent a year between 2003 and 2004 playing as their number one.
He is more than aware of that and reflects positively on that time, admitting he still has a memento from the clash.
“After Luton, I returned to Lens where the leaders agreed that I train with the reserves,” he said.
“Between Christmas and New Year, my agent called me saying that Crystal Palace absolutely wanted to take me because they had a problem with their goalkeeper. Aleksandrs Koliņko got into a disagreement with Trevor Francis, the coach, during a match and the coach beat him up.
“The club played in the Championship. In the FA Cup, we travel to Liverpool. It was a match filled with winks for me. In Lens, I trained with Bruno Cheyrou and worked with El-Hadji Diouf. Their coach, Gérard Houllier, was from Noeux-les-Mines, like my dad.
“It wasn’t planned for me to play. When I learned of my start, I quickly informed my parents that I was starting at Anfield from a telephone booth.
“Facing Michael Owen’s Reds, we qualified numerically inferior (0-2). It’s the best memory of my career.
“I have a standout memory, it’s this corridor that takes you to the field. When you see all the names there, you wonder what the hell you’re doing there. I still have Jerzy Dudek’s jersey at home.”
