Earlier this season, Pat Mountain celebrated 500 games as a goalkeeping coach in the Championship.
He is also now past the 900 mark in all competitions at senior level, including over a century chalked up in the Premier League.
The bulk of those have come with his current employers, Bristol City, and at Wolves, where he spent nine years which featured two promotions, two relegations, and two top-flight survivals. Riding the perennial Molineux rollercoaster!
On Saturday, Mountain’s past and present come into contact as Wolves travel to Ashton Gate for a High Noon showdown in the third round of the FA Cup.
It is a sign of longevity, and his ability not just in coaching but also in managing so many different goalkeepers of different ages and at different levels, that the Cardiff-born Mountain has spent so long at both clubs.
Surviving, or rather thriving, under so many different managerial regimes when offered the opportunity to prove himself following a change at the top.
Just using Wolves as an example, Mountain was one of several members of staff who worked under a total of eight different bosses from 2008 to 2017. Providing stability amid the change.
“I have been fortunate at both Wolves and Bristol City, that when there have been changes, the club have always felt it right to give the staff an opportunity with a new manager,” he explains.
“Jez (Moxey) and Kevin (Thelwell) always tried to do that at Wolves, recognising the importance, when possible, of keeping some form of stability behind the scenes when there’s a change at the top.
“From my point of view, I think when a new manager comes in, they want as much information as possible, especially with how big football clubs are now, needing to know about all the different departments, and who does what.
“My philosophy has always been to help with that as much as I can, and also to feel that I can work with any manager.
“I always want to do my very best for the goalies to help them play at the highest level they can, and I’m pretty sure that’s what the manager wants as well.
“So given we want exactly the same, there is always every reason to be able to work well together.”
For 48-year-old Mountain, a hugely popular figure with all the clubs he has worked at, which includes Hull and Forest Green Rovers, it’s an approach that has served him well.
Always destined to operate at a higher level as a coach than he did as a player, it’s been quite the footballing journey, from being born in Pontypridd and starting his career with Barry Town, which included turning out in the UEFA Cup and proving the hero in a penalty shootout against Hungarian side BVSC Budapest.
Mountain later enjoyed a taste of Football League experience with a handful of appearances on a non-contract basis for Cardiff City, then becoming a huge success with over 200 appearances in non-league for Newport County, featuring a decent FA Cup run which ended in defeat against Blackpool.
Ultimately a succession of knee injuries ended his career at 27, by which time he had already made substantial progress towards his next chapter, in coaching.
He was the youngest at the time to have completed the ‘A’ license for both goalkeeping and outfield positions, and was always aware that his potential was greater to achieve more off the pitch than he had on it.
“I don’t think I could ever have done better as a goalkeeper than I did, certainly not without the sort of support that goalkeepers get now,” he admits.
“I wasn’t the most confident and didn’t have much faith in my ability, my kicking wasn’t great, and I wasn’t the biggest.
“I needed a good coach, which might have made a difference, but I always thought I would end up coaching at a much higher level than I had ever played at.”
Alongside studying for those coaching qualifications Mountain had built up valuable experience working on large-scale community schemes in schools and development programmes, and then with Cardiff’s Academy, and as a tutor with the Welsh FA.
He also coached with Wales Under-21s during the tenure of Glyn Hodges, looking after Lewis Price who, like Wolves Academy scholar Scott Brown whom he coached at Cheltenham, has since been in the opposition dugout to Mountain in the Championship.
Brown wasn’t the only Wolves connection who Mountain encountered as he made early strides within the game.
His part-time work with Cheltenham came when John Ward was manager and Keith Downing his assistant, and was coupled with similar part-time duties for Hereford, who had Graham Turner as boss and previous Wolves Academy coach John Trewick as number two.
Then, in the summer of 2008, the goalkeeping coach role became available at Wolves.
It was a tough act to follow – the departing Bobby Mimms was extremely popular – and was also a tough initiation process, a session with the keepers after initially impressing Mick McCarthy in an informal interview.
No pressure, then. But Mountain delivered the goods, and landed the job. It’s not too far-fetched to suggest that those couple of hours running that session proved a life-changing moment, given what was to follow.
And, from that initial ‘trial’, to all those years in the job, one thing has been crystal clear to Mountain when it comes to the role of a goalkeeping coach.
It is not just about the technical and tactical side, but the psychology and the people-skills, and building strong working relationships within the supportive – but also pressurised and competitive environment – of a goalkeeping union.
“As time has gone on, and the more I have done this job, the more I have come to understand it is less about football and more about people,” he explains.
“Obviously there is a balance, and you need the tactical information and a good quality in training, but if you can get the relationships part right, between the players and the staff, that is what gives you the best chance.
“I learned so much of that at Wolves, my first full-time job, from the moment I arrived and met Matt Murray, who knew absolutely everything about me – he’d done his homework!
“I knew how much the keepers had enjoyed working with Mimmsy and I was always going to be different, but I quickly learned I didn’t need to continually come up with new drills.
“It was about keeping the boys motivated and engaged, and to help them improve, but there are so many other dynamics involved.
“There are the dynamics between the coach and each of the players, the group of goalkeepers, and all of us as a unit.
“I have been in situations where a goalkeeper is left out after having played for a long period of time, and someone else has come in, and you are working very closely with those players every single day going through the good moments and the disappointments.
“You have to build a really strong atmosphere of mutual respect to be able to come through all that, and make sure all the goalkeepers are there to support each other and be the best that they can be.”
There were some hugely contrasting personalities on the goalkeeping roster during Mountain’s lengthy spell at Molineux.
From Murray, who sadly had to retire prematurely due to injury, to the young guns in Wayne Hennessey and Carl Ikeme who emerged to become first choices, the maverick that is Marcus Hahnemann, and later, Aaron McCarey, Dorus De Vries and Harry Burgoyne.
The coach admits he learned just as much from that array of glovemen as he taught them.
“Marcus was actually older than me when he arrived, which was another new experience, but there was a great balance with him and the two younger lads in Wayne and Carl,” says Mountain.
“They were young and wanting to work hard, diving around in training, but Marcus would offer advice on other things, about how sometimes they could step back and think about dealing with situations which would help them become better goalkeepers.
“I remember him talking about coming out of the area to clear the ball.
“He told the lads to always hit it against the advertising boards so it came back into play, as if it was returned quickly from the crowd, or there was multiball, the game could restart before getting back into your goal.
“But they would never be able to start the game again with two balls on the pitch.
“And it’s true that he would never dive before 11 o’clock in the morning!
“He said he needed half an hour to properly warm up and would keep asking me the time – eventually I’d be like, ‘yes Marcus it’s 11.01, we’re good to go’.
“But it just shows how every keeper’s approach and personalities are different – as a coach you have to get to know all of that and, from my point of view, find the way that we can get the very best out of them.”
Mountain was part of a very tight-knit staff at Wolves, many of whom he remains in close touch with to this day.
There were disappointing times, as at all clubs, but it comes as no surprise that the highlights were the 2008/09 Championship success under Mick McCarthy which took Mountain into the Premier League at the age of 32, and the extraordinary reboot under Kenny Jackett as the team hit back from the relegation double dip to storm to the League One title in 2013/14.
The clear and unequivocal direction from those two leaders, the closeness and work ethic of the staff, and quality and hunger of the players – Mountain sees many similarities in the two title-winning successes.
“I would say that, as staff, we had the same togetherness and camaraderie as the players in the dressing room,” he recalls.
“We had managers in charge who knew exactly what they wanted to do and how they were going to do it, and we all had complete faith and trust in Mick and Kenny just as we did in each other.
“That was the same attitude in the changing room with the squad, groups of largely young and hungry players who were desperate to do well but also enjoyed each other’s company – and that’s not easy to do when you’ve got 25 young men working together day after day.
“I always remember really liking the people I worked with, and looking forward to coming to work every single day, and that’s not always the case in football.
“It is a lot easier when you are winning games, but it also helps through the difficult times, and when we catch up now, we get on just as we did then – it feels like it was just yesterday.”
Mountain is loath to select particular personal highlights or recollections of when things went well for goalkeepers on his watch. “Any successes that the keepers had were down to their own hard work and ability,” he insists.
But there is one example from his Molineux days which he continues to use now in information passed on to those under his tutelage. The perfect case of always being ready to expect the unexpected. And it focuses on Burgoyne, who, at the age of 20, was handed his first team opportunity under Paul Lambert, and went on to help Wolves to an FA Cup giant-killing against Liverpool at Anfield. Many years before he is set for another big test, for Morecambe, at Chelsea this weekend.
“This is a story about always being ready that I continue to tell goalkeepers I work with, because we were building up to a game against Fulham, when Harry was fourth choice,” Mountain begins.
“Carl had picked up an injury, but we still had Andy Lonergan ready to play, and Jon Flatt as cover, and on the Friday before the game, Harry was on a day off as he had an Under-21s fixture on the Monday.
“Then Lonners’ knee locked in the last part of training, and so Harry had to report with the first team, and Paul decided to play him against Fulham.
“He played another game and was on the bench when Carl came back, only for him to get sent off away at Norwich.
“Harry started warming up expecting to go on, but it was like ‘sit down mate’, as we’d already used all our subs!
“But then afterwards we started talking about Harry having to come in to cover Carl’s suspension, and who have we got? Away at Anfield against Liverpool in the FA Cup!
“That then became a very different experience to manage Harry and all the noise during the week leading up to the game, because he’d only been told he was playing against Fulham an hour-and-a-half before kick-off.
“It’s almost the worst thing for a young goalkeeper to know he is going to play in such a massive game, but he dealt with it really well and, as we all remember, it turned into a very special day out at Anfield!”
One of many special days for Mountain at Molineux, and why his time at Wolves will always carry such fond memories.
All good things must come to an end however, and moving on from Wolves in 2017, while signalling the end of an era, was not completely unexpected.
A far more significant investment followed both in backroom staff and resource and equipment, which took Wolves to new levels in their potential and operations, but that should never detract from the effort and professionalism displayed by Mountain and so many others during those rollercoaster years prior to Fosun’s takeover.
And now? Well, it’s down to business.
Bristol City, under Liam Manning, have quietly crept onto the fringes of the Championship play-off picture after an excellent run over Christmas, including three successive clean sheets on home turf, and will enjoy the challenge of facing Wolves at Ashton Gate, just as they did in the fifth round of the FA Cup five years ago.
Into his sixth year with the Robins, Mountain has become part of the furniture, just as he was at Wolves, and is ready to treat Saturday’s match-up as just another game.
Granted there are still a few familiar faces from the old days on the Wolves side, Head of High Performance Phil Hayward and first team analyst John Boston among the backroom staff, and Matt Doherty on the pitch!
Had the tie been at Molineux the emotions might have been heightened, but, for Mountain, it’s all about preparing the City goalkeepers to be at their best for a stern test of their FA Cup credentials.
“I am really enjoying it at Bristol City, and we have that same sort of togetherness as a staff and in the dressing room as I mentioned at Wolves,” he reveals.
“And the FA Cup has been pretty good to us in recent years, getting to the Fifth Round against Manchester City a couple of seasons ago, and beating West Ham before going out on penalties to Nottingham Forest last year.
“It’s another big game again this weekend, and one we are all looking forward to.”
And now, 16-and-a-half years on from his first full time coaching role at Wolves, Mountain continues to look forward to every day he remains involved in a football industry which has filled his entire working life.
We are speaking on New Year’s Eve, as he sits in his hotel room ahead of a game at Plymouth, bringing back memories of his first ever fixture as a full-time coach, the 2-2 draw at the start of the Championship-winning season of 2008/09.
City also draw 2-2 at Home Park the following day, but follow it up with the game which Mountain is already preparing for – the visit of Derby 72 hours later – with a 1-0 win.
“If we didn’t have the passion and enthusiasm to do this, I think we’d be mental and physical wrecks,” he says with a laugh.
“It can never be just a job.”
Still, there are ambitions. In particular, he continues to relish working with younger keepers as well as the seniors, helping them take their first steps on the ladder to hopefully enjoying their own careers between the posts.
Almost 1,000 games in, when it comes to coaching, Mountain has certainly proved he is a keeper.
