Boaz Myhill

Boaz Myhill

Myhill training with Birmingham City in 2011
Personal information
Full name	Glyn Oliver Myhill [1]
Date of birth	(1982-11-09) 9 November 1982 (age 41) [2]
Place of birth	Modesto, California, United States
Height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) [3]
Position(s)	Goalkeeper [4]
Youth career
0000–2000	Aston Villa
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2000–2003	Aston Villa	0	(0)
2002	→ Stoke City (loan)	0	(0)
2002	→ Bristol City (loan)	0	(0)
2002–2003	→ Bradford City (loan)	2	(0)
2003	→ Macclesfield Town (loan)	15	(0)
2003	→ Stockport County (loan)	2	(0)
2003–2010	Hull City	257	(0)
2010–2019	West Bromwich Albion	63	(0)
2011–2012	→ Birmingham City (loan)	42	(0)
Total		381	(0)
International career
2001−2002	England U20	3	(0)
2008–2013	Wales	19	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Glyn Oliver "Boaz" Myhill (born 9 November 1982; /ˈboʊ.æzˈmaɪhɪl/ BOW-uz) is a former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He represented the Wales national team from 2008 to 2013.

Born in the United States to an American father and Welsh mother, Myhill grew up near the England–Wales border in Oswestry, England, from the age of one. He came through the youth ranks of the English club Aston Villa, and made two appearances for the England under-20 team in 2002. In 2003, he moved to Hull City, where he established himself as first-choice goalkeeper and made 277 appearances over the next seven years. He had played for West Bromwich Albion since 2010, except for the 2011–12 season, which he spent on loan at Birmingham City. Myhill re-joined Albion in July 2018, following the expiration of his previous contract with the club. In 2019, he became the West Bromwich Albion Professional Phase Development Goalkeeping Coach.

Early life

Born in Modesto, California, ^[4] the son of an American father and a Welsh mother from Llangollen, Myhill moved to England at the age of one. He attended and played football at the Marches School, Oswestry. He also played football for Oswestry Boys Club, although not always as a keeper. ^[5]

Myhill's parents originally intended to name him Boaz, a Hebrew name which they encountered and liked while travelling in Israel, but were dissuaded from doing so by relatives. Nevertheless, Myhill has been called Boaz, rather than by his official name Glyn, throughout his life. ^[6]

Club career

Aston Villa

Myhill joined Aston Villa at the age of 12, working at Villa Park with Mark Bosnich, David James, Peter Schmeichel and Peter Enckelman. He signed his first professional contract with Villa in November 2000. ^[7]

In January 2002, a 19-year-old Myhill was signed on a one-month loan by Stoke City, to provide backup to their then first-choice keeper, Neil Cutler. ^[8] Myhill was recalled by Aston Villa just a week into this loan period. ^[9]

Following his spell at Stoke, Myhill spent a three-month period on loan at Bristol City, where he was an unused substitute for 18 of City's 19 matches during the loan period. He missed Bristol City's Football League Trophy match with Queens Park Rangers due to a call up to England's Under-20 international side. ^[10]

Myhill's first-team debut arrived whilst he was on loan in November 2002, to First Division club Bradford City. He conceded five goals on his debut, ^[11] and made just one further appearance. ^[12]

After a brief trial period, Myhill joined Macclesfield Town for a three-month loan period at the start of the 2003–04 season. ^[13]

Although Macclesfield boss David Moss was eager to extend Myhill's loan period after 16 impressive appearances by the keeper, ^[14] Myhill was loaned by Aston Villa to Stockport County at the end of 2003.^{[ citation needed ]}

Hull City

Myhill playing for Hull City in 2007

Hull City manager Peter Taylor moved quickly once it became apparent that Stockport were lining up a permanent deal for Myhill. Considering Hull to be a more appealing prospect, ^[15] Myhill signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with the club on 13 December 2003 at the cost of £50,000 to the East Yorkshire club.^{[ citation needed ]}

Since signing for Hull City, Myhill's progress won over the Hull fans as he quickly became their first-choice 'keeper and played a key part in two back-to-back promotion seasons, which took Hull up from the old Third Division to the Championship, missing only one league match in the 2004–05 season.^{[ citation needed ]}

In the 2005–06 season, Myhill was again in fine form and again missed only one league game, through suspension after a controversial sending off for handling the ball outside his area in a game against Queens Park Rangers.^{[ citation needed ]} In one memorable match at Stoke City he saved two penalties, prompting chants of "Myhill for England" from the travelling fans.^{[ citation needed ]} At the end of the season he was named as the club's Player of the Year, and was the highest-ranked goalkeeper in FourFourTwo magazine's list of the top 50 Football League players.^{[ citation needed ]} He was rewarded with a new, improved contract running until June 2008. Myhill signed a new three-year contract with Hull in August 2007. ^[16] He was part of the Hull City team which won promotion to the Premier League for the first time in May 2008, and along with teammates Ian Ashbee, Andy Dawson and Ryan France, joined an elite band of players to have taken their club up through four divisions. ^[17] In 2009, he was briefly dropped from the team in favour of Matt Duke but regained his position for the final six games of the season.^{[ citation needed ]}

After impressive performances at the start of the 2009–10 season, he was rewarded on 3 September 2009 with a new contract, taking him to June 2012. ^[18] On 16 January 2010, Myhill was acclaimed for his performance in Hull's surprise 0–0 draw at top-four Tottenham Hotspur, which took the "Tigers" out of the relegation zone. ^[19]

Myhill left Hull City having represented the club in all four divisions of the English Football League, a rare occurrence in English football.^{[ citation needed ]}

West Bromwich Albion

Myhill signed for newly promoted Premier League team West Bromwich Albion on a three-year contract on 30 July 2010 for an officially undisclosed fee of £1.5 million. ^{[20] [21]}

Birmingham City loan

Myhill joined Championship club Birmingham City on loan on 29 July 2011, changing places with Birmingham goalkeeper Ben Foster for the 2011–12 season. ^[22] He made his debut for the club on the opening day of the season, playing the whole of a 2–1 defeat at Derby County. ^[23] Myhill kept a clean sheet in the Europa League play-off round first leg against Portuguese club Nacional, a match which marked his European debut and the first time his club had participated in major European competition for nearly 50 years. ^[24] He remained the first-choice goalkeeper for League matches for most of the season, missing the last few matches because of an injured thumb, ^[25] alternating in the Europa League with Colin Doyle, who played in the domestic cups.^{[ citation needed ]}

Return to West Brom

On 24 July 2015, Myhill signed a two-year contract extension that would keep him at the club till the summer of 2017. ^[26]

On 20 June 2018, it was announced that Myhill would leave West Brom upon the expiration of his contract. ^[27] However, on 31 July 2018, West Brom announced that they had re-signed Myhill on a one-year deal. ^[28]

He was released at the end of the season in July 2019. ^[29] On 4 September 2019, it was announced that he had become the Professional Phase Development Goalkeeping Coach at West Brom, ending a nine-year playing career with the club. ^[30]

International career

Myhill made international appearances for the England Youth and England U20 teams, but this did not affect his eligibility to play for the United States or any of the home nations. He was offered the chance to play for Wales in early 2006, but declined due to family reasons. ^[6] He was eventually called up for the first time for Wales on 17 March 2008 due to Wayne Hennessey returning to the U21 side in order to help them qualify from their group. ^[31] He made his debut on 26 March coming on as a halftime substitute for Lewis Price during a 2–0 win over Luxembourg. He has mostly been deputy to first-choice Hennessey. Myhill retired from international football in May 2014. ^[32]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Aston Villa	2001–02 [33]	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2002–03 [34]	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2003–04 [35]	Premier League	0	0	—		—		—		0	0
	Total		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Stoke City (loan)	2001–02 [33]	Second Division	0	0	—		—		—		0	0
Bristol City (loan)	2002–03 [34]	Second Division	0	0	—		0	0	0	0	0	0
Bradford City (loan)	2002–03 [34]	First Division	2	0	—		—		—		2	0
Macclesfield Town (loan)	2003–04 [35]	Third Division	15	0	—		1	0	0	0	16	0
Stockport County (loan)	2003–04 [35]	Second Division	2	0	—		—		1 [lower-alpha 1]	0	3	0
Hull City	2003–04 [35]	Third Division	23	0	—		—		—		23	0
	2004–05 [36]	League One	45	0	3	0	0	0	1 [lower-alpha 1]	0	49	0
	2005–06 [37]	Championship	45	0	1	0	0	0	—		46	0
	2006–07 [38]	Championship	46	0	2	0	3	0	—		51	0
	2007–08 [39]	Championship	43	0	1	0	2	0	3 [lower-alpha 2]	0	49	0
	2008–09 [40]	Premier League	28	0	3	0	0	0	—		31	0
	2009–10 [41]	Premier League	27	0	1	0	0	0	—		28	0
	Total		257	0	11	0	5	0	4	0	277	0
West Bromwich Albion	2010–11 [42]	Premier League	6	0	1	0	4	0	—		11	0
	2011–12 [43]	Premier League	0	0	—		—		—		0	0
	2012–13 [44]	Premier League	8	0	2	0	1	0	—		11	0
	2013–14 [45]	Premier League	14	0	0	0	0	0	—		14	0
	2014–15 [46]	Premier League	11	0	3	0	3	0	—		17	0
	2015–16 [47]	Premier League	23	0	1	0	1	0	—		25	0
	2016–17 [48]	Premier League	0	0	1	0	1	0	—		2	0
	2017–18 [49]	Premier League	1	0	0	0	1	0	—		2	0
	2018–19 [50]	Championship	0	0	0	0	3	0	—		3	0
	Total		63	0	8	0	14	0	—		85	0
Birmingham City (loan)	2011–12 [43]	Championship	42	0	0	0	0	0	5 [lower-alpha 3]	0	47	0
West Bromwich Albion U23/1	2016–17 [50]	—			—		—		1 [lower-alpha 4]	0	1	0
	2018–19 [50]	—			—		—		1 [lower-alpha 4]	0	1	0
	Total		—		—		—		2	0	2	0
Career total			381	0	19	0	20	0	12	0	432	0

1. Appearance in Football League Trophy
2. Appearances in Championship play-offs
3. Appearances in UEFA Europa League
4. Appearance in EFL Trophy

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year ^[51]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Wales	2008	3	0
	2009	3	0
	2010	3	0
	2011	1	0
	2012	3	0
	2013	6	0
Total		19	0

Honours

Hull City

• Football League One runner-up: 2004–05 ^[52]
• Football League Championship play-offs: 2008 ^[53]

Individual

• Football League Golden Glove: October 2011^{[ citation needed ]}

References

1. "List of players given a free transfer: West Bromwich Albion" (PDF). English Football League. p. 101. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
2. "Boaz Myhill: Overview". ESPN. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
3. "Boaz Myhill: Overview". Premier League. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
4. "Boaz Myhill". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
5. "Boaz is happy to fight for his place at Hawthorns". Oswestry and Border Counties Advertizer. 12 February 2015. Archived from the original on 25 January 2018. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
6. "Myhill proud to answer Wales call". BBC Sport. 25 March 2008. Retrieved 11 May 2011.
7. Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2005). The PFA Premier & Football League Players' Records 1946–2005. Queen Anne Press. p. 450. ISBN   1-85291-665-6.
8. "Myhill joins Stoke", BBC Sport, 22 January 2002. Retrieved 11 May 2011.
9. "Stoke search for keeper", BBC Sport, 22 January 2002. Retrieved 11 May 2011.
10. "Myhill goes home" Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine , Bristol City F.C., 17 November 2004. Retrieved 2 July 2007.
11. "Boaz Myhill". Hull City A.F.C. Archived from the original on 17 February 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
12. "He scored twice but never played again: More Bradford City players you may have forgotten". Bradford Telegraph and Argus. 8 July 2020.
13. "Moss brings in Myhill", BBC Sport, 6 August 2003. Retrieved 11 May 2011.
14. "Macclesfield hope for Myhill boost", BBC Sport, 2 September 2003. Retrieved 11 May 2011.
15. "Hull set to snatch Myhill", BBC Sport, 11 December 2003. Retrieved 11 May 2011.
16. "Keeper Myhill pens new Hull deal". BBC Sport. 18 August 2007. Retrieved 11 May 2011.
17. "Hull's Dawson happy joining brother Michael in Premiership". Tribalfootball.com. Archived from the original on 30 May 2008. Retrieved 28 May 2008.
18. "Boaz Myhill signs new Hull contract". The Daily Telegraph. London. 3 September 2009. Archived from the original on 6 September 2009. Retrieved 30 October 2009.
19. Reekie, Harry (16 January 2010). "Tottenham 0–0 Hull". BBC Sport. Retrieved 11 May 2011.
20. "Myhill Completes West Brom Move". Hull City A.F.C. 30 July 2010. Archived from the original on 29 March 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
21. "West Brom capture goalkeeper Boaz Myhill from Hull". BBC Sport. 30 July 2010. Retrieved 11 May 2011.
22. "Boaz is a Blue". Birmingham City F.C. 29 July 2011. Archived from the original on 13 September 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2011.
23. "Derby 2–1 Birmingham". BBC Sport. 6 August 2011. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
24. "Birmingham settle for goalless draw after woodwork denies them thrice". The Guardian. Press Association. 18 August 2011. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
25. Tattum, Colin (20 April 2012). "Boaz Myhill's Birmingham City injury concern and Ben Foster's loan". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
26. "Myhill signs contract extension". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 29 July 2015. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
27. "Moore praises departing trio". West Bromwich Albion F.C. 20 June 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
28. "Myhill re-signs for Albion". West Bromwich Albion F.C. 31 July 2018. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
29. Suart, Paul (17 May 2019). "West Brom opt against new deals for stalwarts as club reveals retained list". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
30. "Myhill takes up coaching role". West Bromwich Albion F.C. 4 September 2019. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
31. "Key players out of Wales friendly" BBC Sport Retrieved on 11 May 2011
32. "West Brom goalkeeper Boaz Myhill quits Wales". BBC Sport. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
33. "Games played by Boaz Myhill in 2001/2002". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
34. "Games played by Boaz Myhill in 2002/2003". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
35. "Games played by Boaz Myhill in 2003/2004". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
36. "Games played by Boaz Myhill in 2004/2005". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
37. "Games played by Boaz Myhill in 2005/2006". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
38. "Games played by Boaz Myhill in 2006/2007". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
39. "Games played by Boaz Myhill in 2007/2008". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
40. "Games played by Boaz Myhill in 2008/2009". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
41. "Games played by Boaz Myhill in 2009/2010". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
42. "Games played by Boaz Myhill in 2010/2011". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
43. "Games played by Boaz Myhill in 2011/2012". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
44. "Games played by Boaz Myhill in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
45. "Games played by Boaz Myhill in 2013/2014". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
46. "Games played by Boaz Myhill in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
47. "Games played by Boaz Myhill in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
48. "Games played by Boaz Myhill in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
49. "Games played by Boaz Myhill in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
50. "Games played by Boaz Myhill in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
51. "Myhill, Boaz". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
52. Rollin, Glenda; Rollin, Jack, eds. (2005). Sky Sports Football Yearbook 2005–2006. London: Headline Publishing Group. pp. 49, 208–209. ISBN   978-0-7553-1384-6.
53. McNulty, Phil (24 May 2008). "Bristol City 0–1 Hull: Report". BBC Sport. Retrieved 22 April 2020.

External links

• Profile on the West Bromwich Albion website
• Boaz Myhill at Soccerbase