Legendary: Arsenal and England legend David Seaman surprises Hatters goalkeeper at the Brache.
Legendary: Arsenal and England legend David Seaman surprises Hatters goalkeeper at the Brache.
David Seaman, an Arsenal and England veteran, paid a surprise visit to the Brache training field this morning to present Town goalkeeper James Shea with a unique Premier League football after the long-serving member of Luton’s team made his top division debut last season.
The 33-year-old spent six years with the Gunners, rising through the ranks at the Emirates and winning the FA Youth Cup and Premier League Academy in 2009. He was named on the bench for the Champions League match against Montpellier HSC, but he left in 2013 without making a first-team appearance.
Shea joined Kenilworth Road in 2017 and has since helped the club win three promotions, signing a new contract in the summer to extend his stay for an eighth year. With Town all but officially relegated last season due to the arrival of Tim Krul, he made his first appearance in the top tier of English football in the final 15 minutes of the last game against Fulham, replacing the previously ever-present Thomas Kaminski.
Despite not having played a first team game for almost a year, Shea didn’t let anyone down, commanding his area well with the highlight of his cameo being a terrific save from Thomas Cairney’s 25-yard drive that he tipped over the bar to huge cheers from the home faithful. With the rest of Luton’s squad having picked up their balls earlier in the campaign, Seaman, who won 75 England caps and made almost 750 first team appearances, including more than 400 for Arsenal, was a special visitor to surprise a clearly shocked Shea with the honour.
Addressing the squad, Town boss Rob Edwards said: “This is a really special presentation to a very special person who made his Premier League debut at the back end of last season and I think this is a really nice way of doing it. Sheasy this is for you, seven years at the football club, you’re an amazing person, a massive part of what we do and I know it took until the 38th game of the season to get you those minutes, but I’m really pleased that we did that. You’re someone who I think is getting better and better all the time and you really deserve it.”
With Town suffering a huge injury crisis during the season, it meant that Shea was on the bench for large parts of the run-in, including a trip to his old side in early April. That day, the Gunners ran out comfortable 2-0 winners, as speaking before this week’s presentation, Shea said: “It’s always nice to be fair, always nice to go back to where you’ve been before, see some old faces, have a catch-up and everything. I’m not going to lie, I was just gutted that we lost.”
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