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Jamie Langfield has a stellar track record when it comes to goalkeepers at St Mirren. The boyhood supporter – now the longest-serving member of the football staff at the Paisley club – has enjoyed a sustained period of success in recruitment and development of goalkeepers.
What makes it that bit more impressive is the constant revolving door in the key position, something he is hopeful will be addressed in the future.
Since playing between the sticks himself for St Mirren, Langfield has coached Vaclav Hladky, Jak Alnwick, Trevor Carson and Zach Hemming. Three of those four – Carson excluded as he is at Dundee – are now under contract at English Championship clubs.
The latest recruit for Langfield, Ellery Balcombe, has made a flying start to his time in Paisley with a clean sheet against Valur on his competitive debut – understandably, Langfield is excited for what is to come with the on-loan Brentford stopper in as number one for the season.
"It's the same as Zach last year, I remember pre-season last year I think there were a few question marks over Zach,” said Langfield when quizzed whether Balcombe can follow the blueprint to success as a shot-stopper in Paisley. "Sometimes you just think, 'Bite your tongue and bide your time'. I think that proved that.
"I knew Zach would become a fan favourite just because of his personality and on top of that he took into games and took into training. I knew that would happen.
"Ellery is different from Zach. Zach was mental, let's just put it that way. He was just crazy, loved being on the training pitch just diving about.
"Ellery is a different kettle of fish altogether but he has got some qualities that I have not seen in a goalkeeper in a long, long time. Especially his distribution.
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"What I do think is, you don't sign for Brentford and you're not third choice for Brentford at a Premier League club if you are not a good goalkeeper.
"It's just about, and I know we say this and it is a little bit disheartening for us that we are just helping these goalkeepers on their way at other clubs, but if we are getting the best out of Ellery Balcombe or Zach Hemming then we know we are onto the right things.
"I'd love to be able to do it one day and it's a St Mirren goalkeeper and we can take it to higher things."
Langfield has already received plaudits from Balcombe for his coaching after just weeks working together and alongside Peter Urminsky and youngster Shay Kelly.
But the coach refused to take whole credit for the succession of top-quality goalkeepers arriving in Paisley every couple of seasons.
"First and foremost it is great recruitment from the club,” he said. “Obviously, I look at the goalkeepers before they come into the club but the club have recruit them and the manager has to have the right say-so. At the end of the day it is the manager and the staff that decide what goalkeeper comes in and I just work with them.
"I will always keep on saying this; it is never about me, it is never about what I do it's about what they do on the pitch.
"If I can make them feel 100 percent every single week they go on the pitch...sometimes I say this, coaching is probably the easiest part of my job.
"It's the psychology. We all know how mental goalkeepers are and how crazy they can be and dealing with different characters from the older variety of Trevor Carson down to Zach Hemming last year and Ellery this year.
"It's just how you treat them and you have to treat them all as individuals and that's how I do it.
"It gets the best out of them, it's great when they're with me they enjoy it and great when they go away they talk about me but at the end of the day it's not about me.
"I want to see these guys flourish in their careers and if I can be a small step in that journey then I am happy."
