If the expression 'you don't have to be mad to be a goalkeeper but it helps' rings true about certain members of the gloved brigade — then what does it say about the bloke that coaches them? Wanderers goalkeeping coach Fred Barber is certainly that. He's mad in the sense that he's passionate about the job and about training young talent.

The 45-year-old has been in football all his life, making his debut for Darlington in the 1982-83 season. His club playing career was distinctly nomadic. It once saw him understudy to Everton legend Neville Southall but it was mainly at the less glamorous outposts of Walsall and Peterborough where Barber saw action.

Towards the end of his playing days he was at Blackpool where then manager Sam Allardyce offered him the chance to do some coaching.

"I first started coaching at Blackpool when Sam offered me some work but it wasn't full time so I got work at other clubs too," recalls the Ferryhill-born coach. "At one stage I used to work for 6 or 7 different clubs like Burnley and Bradford and then later Bolton when Phil Brown came here from Blackpool. Increasingly my workload at Bolton grew but I still worked for other clubs."

Such was the eventual clamour for Fred's coaching talents that at one point both West Brom and Bolton were keen on his services. He was working three days a week and matchdays at the Reebok and Bryan Robson wanted him at the Hawthorns. Wanderers won the day and Fred is now a full time member of the Wanderers coaching set-up and these days even has a team of specialist keeping coaches working with him.

"I love the place and I have a great rapport with the keepers and that is the most important thing to me because it makes coming to work that much easier. If you like the people you work with it means an awful lot," says Barber.

Though he is a something of a joker his training regime is tough enough to make the military wince. But it isn't just hard for the sake of it, there's real well thought-out method in this form of madness.

"Yes it is hard and demanding work during the week for our keepers — if other goalkeepers come and train with the lads here they all find it really difficult because they aren't used to the level we expect.

"But I like to make sure that the players can do things almost by instinct. Yes the drills are hard but they pay off when it comes to a match situation. It's a bit like driving to work and not remembering the journey. We want the players to do the right things without having to think about it.

"The other side of the game is making sure we prepare the players mentally that way the players are in the right frame of mind to be able to walk out in front of a big crowd and perform to their best. We try to simulate real game situations and drill the players so that their reactions are second nature.

"You get very close to the lads and I am like a father figure to some. Take Ali Al Habsi for example, he is eager to play and has had to be patient but he also had to be prepared in case he is called upon so I have had to talk to him and explain the situation." Barber knows exactly what it's like to be waiting in the wings

Barber says the secret to successful coaching lies in ensuring the players are stimulated each day.

"You have to have a good strong personality and when it comes to training sessions you have to be able to be twice as bubbly and twice as confident as you would be normally. You might not feel like getting out of bed that day but when you get to work your job is to enthuse other people and make it interesting for them so you can't afford to be less than enthusiastic.

"So I constantly wind the lads up, have a go at them or pull their legs. We have a system of fines that comes into play if they miss three saves on the trot or if I miss the target!

"We work on different themes — the work is planned — spreadsheet style so that it is systematic and each aspect of the job, kicking, catching, shot stopping is looked at in detail and honed.

"We have a range of different drills but Jussi always wants to be the best. He is still hungry and still pushes himself. He has improved year on year and is constantly looking to improve. That for my money is why he hasn't simply been the one of the best keepers in the country for one season but he has been in that top bracket for the last six or seven. He hasn't let his standards drop. Jussi is the one all the younger keepers look up to and learn from. He also knows that he has some tough competition at the club and cant afford to let his standards slip. It is like he is the king of the jungle. They all want his place and he's prowling around making sure they can't.

"Football is a different game for the keepers as there is only one player who can play in that position. A right back might get into the side in central defence or vice versa — there is only one goalkeeper. So they have to have a different mentality from the off. I have a good set of lads here and there is real strength in depth in the goalkeeping department which is one of my main responsibilities."

Each summer Barber and fellow goalkeeper coach Malcolm Webster run a goalkeeping school for young and budding keepers and they have unearthed some real gems. One of the biggest finds was Tomasz Kuszczak, the Polish keeper now at Manchester United

"Tomasz came to one of the pre-season coaching schools we run and straight away you could see there was a lot of raw talent there. He almost came to Bolton but Gary Megson got in first for him and signed him on a free transfer for West Brom. He certainly stands out — though there have been others too along the way. You could see that he had the same raw potential and hunger that made Jussi first stand out."

Spotting, developing and nurturing talent remains a passion. So much so that Fred runs a series of regular coaching sessions every Monday at the Hayward Leisure Centre between 6pm and 7 pm for children from 7 to 17. They're priced at £10 per session. Call 07950 833079 for more details.