Dutch stopper broke club clean sheets record before departing for Wolves
There was a time when Swansea's goalkeeper didn't pass the ball. As is still the case at most clubs, the role of our goalkeeper was simply to keep goal, protecting his net from anything that threatened it and then return the ball upfield with a big boot. Ok, all goalkeepers give a percentage of ball short to a well-placed defender, but the majority of passes played by a 'keeper are long and we were no different. We'd also had a couple of heroes between the sticks in recent memory - Willy Gueret had endeared himself to fans by getting arrested whilst celebrating our League Two promotion at Bury while before him Roger Freestone had long been a resounding fan favourite. Everybody loves Roger.
The stage was set for a revolution - of the footballing variety. Roberto Martinez had been appointed manager in February of 2007, and had swiftly set about changing the way we do things in SA1 - and what's more key to the new style of play was the goalkeeper being used as an outfield player when we were in possession of the ball - something that was happening more and more regularly as time went on. The goalkeeper needed to be reliable with the ball at his feet, and able to relieve pressure without having to whack it it downfield every time.
When it came to the summer of 2007 Martinez dipped into the transfer market and brought in Dutchman Dorus De Vries from Dunfermline, spelling the end for Willy Gueret who joined MK Dons on the opening day of the 07/08 season. De Vries came highly rated despite throwing one in on the last day of the prior season (costing Dunfermline their SPL status), and so it proved to be that over the course of his first season with the Swans he'd easily establish himself as our no1 keeper, but crucially he was a footballing goalkeeper.
We're all too accustomed to Michel Vorm (and sometimes Gerhard Tremmel) coolly receiving a pass in a tight situation, opening their body up and playing a ball out to the full-back, but it wasn't always this way. De Vries was the first keeper to operate in a distinctly tika-taka system for Swansea City, and he did it with aplomb. In his first season with the club we won the League One title and gained promotion, and then two seasons later he broke Roger Freestone's record of 22 clean sheets in a season (set during the 99/00 Third Division title-winning season), keeping 25 clean sheets under Paolo Sousa after Martinez had left for Wigan.
Hard to top that, you'd think? Not so - Brendan Rodgers arrival meant that the "play out from the back" philosophy remained very much in tact, and De Vries remained first-choice 'keeper. That season would go on to be the season the Swans clinched promotion to the Premiership, and De Vries featured in the Playoff Final against Reading which would ultimately prove to be his last game for the club.
His contract had expired that summer, and originally he had said he was going to stay...but then Wolves offered him more money. So the rumour goes anyway, and given the Swans fiscally-prudent approach it's hard not to believe their offer wasn't around double what we'd put on the table. At the time, it really could have royally shafted the Swans but somehow, just somehow, we pulled another Dutch rabbit out of a hat and signed Michel Vorm for £1.5million. Quality bit of business, that!
De Vries had famously (infamously?) said when he departed the Swans that expectations were higher at Wolves and that "Swansea hoped to stay in the league - Wolves expect to". Seeing as this article is supposed to be looking at what he's done since the Swans I suppose it's best to stop rambling and address the issue at hand, so just how has it gone for Dorus since signing for the Midlands most gold-coloured club?
Not well, if we're being completely honest. He was signed by Wolves when they already had Wayne Hennessey and Carl Ikeme on their books, and if truth be told he came nowhere near the team (apart from the odd cup appearance) until Wayne Hennessey damaged his cruciate ligament, at which point De Vries finally made his first PL appearance. By that point though, Wolves were already certainties for relegation and in reality he only played in a couple of dead rubbers - how galling it must have been to see his replacement (and compatriot) Michel Vorm excelling at Swansea we can't say, but you make your bed and you lie in it.
He did also get to enjoy a return to the Liberty Stadium. Well, I say enjoy - he conceded four goals as we somehow contrived to draw 4-4, but Wolves were then relegated out of the Premiership and that's the last most of us have seen of Dorus since. Where has he gone? Is he still at Wolves? That's what I thought I'd find out.
The season after Wolves' relegation, they got a new manager in (Stale Solbakken) who again didn't fancy making Dorus his number one. With Hennessey still injured, he once again had to bide his time and until Ikeme injured his hand in March 2013 his only appearance that season had been in a 6-0 League Cup loss to Chelsea. Ouch. Similarly to the season before though, De Vries again came in for an injured 'keeper (by this point Dean Saunders had replaced Solbakken) late in the day, and ultimately couldn't help the club avoid relegation. Two consecutive relegations? Double ouch!
A nice little Swansea connection here sees Kenny Jackett enter the picture. Appointed Wolves' boss following their relegation to League One he told De Vries he was free to find another club (waiving the final year of his contract) and he joined Nottingham Forest on a free transfer. I know what you're all thinking here - has he played? Sadly for Dorus, the answer is just the once, away at Sheffield United in the FA Cup last month. They lost 3-1. Since leaving the Swans he's made fourteen league appearances and seven cup appearances in three seasons - this from a goalkeeper who was ever-present throughout three of the four seasons he played for us.
Also, there's a bit of a pattern if you are willing to allow me a pointless observation. Swansea signed De Vries from Dunfermline following their relegation. Dorus comes to Swansea, does well, then signs for Wolves. Who are relegated. Then relegated again. Nottingham Forest to be relegated? They've got 55 points already, so they should be safe. Should be...
It seems that Dorus is one of a growing group of players who've left Swansea thinking the grass was greener elsewhere, only to find that (predictably) the grass is greenest in South Wales. There was a fair bit of animosity about the deal when he left, but I do feel a little sorry for him that things have panned out as they have. It can't be nice watching from the sidelines, but I suppose it's probably easier when you're getting paid tens of thousands of pounds a week to do it. It is likely though that I wouldn't be feeling quite so sympathetic if Vorm hadn't been such a good acquisition, that's for sure. We did alright there, eh?
So, that's what happened to Dorus De Vries. Keep an eye out for him on the bench for Nottingham Forest...