Gavin Bazunu

[Oh no Mick Mills]

1 hour ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

When? 
 

I can’t  think of one game when I came away thinking Baz  saved us today, or Baz  won us those points. Can’t think of one game when I wouldn’t have swapped goalie with the opposition, and can’t think of one occasion when I’ve thought “that’s a goal” and then it wasn’t because Baz saved it. 

Wrexham and Millwall at home last season 

[Miltonaggro]

11 minutes ago, Weston Super Saint said:

We can't see the back of them, does it say 'Walkers'?

The legend is 'Wanking Hand'. Make of that what you will...

[Mboto Gorge]

1 hour ago, Oh no Mick Mills said:

Wrexham and Millwall at home last season 

Come to something though doesn’t it when a goalkeeper plays 90 plus minutes , for 46 games a season for a club and we are highlighting a grand total of 2 saves he’s made that you’d call great saves , in amongst relentlessly not saving shots he should do. Just shows how fucking shite he’s been doesn’t it. 

Edited Wednesday at 19:17 by Mboto Gorge

[stknowle]

8 minutes ago, Mboto Gorge said:

Come to something though doesn’t it when a goalkeeper plays 90 plus minutes , for 46 games a season for a club and we are highlighting a grand total of 2 saves he’s made that you’d call great saves , in amongst relentlessly not saving shots he should do. Just shows how fucking shite he’s been doesn’t it. 

Yes. It does.

[Dr Who?]

2 hours ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

When? 
 

I can’t  think of one game when I came away thinking Baz  saved us today, or Baz  won us those points. Can’t think of one game when I wouldn’t have swapped goalie with the opposition, and can’t think of one occasion when I’ve thought “that’s a goal” and then it wasn’t because Baz saved it. 

Preston away in our promotion season, scored in injury time! 😂 

[Saint_clark]

32 minutes ago, Dr Who? said:

Preston away in our promotion season, scored in injury time! 😂 

Went down as an own goal in the end didn't it?

[Oh no Mick Mills]

1 hour ago, Mboto Gorge said:

Come to something though doesn’t it when a goalkeeper plays 90 plus minutes , for 46 games a season for a club and we are highlighting a grand total of 2 saves he’s made that you’d call great saves , in amongst relentlessly not saving shots he should do. Just shows how fucking shite he’s been doesn’t it. 

Absolutely ,  but more to the point it highlights how shockingly bad Sports Republic have been in player and manager recruitment which accelerated our demise from the Premier League to becoming a Championship club.

I feel sorry for Bazunu but I'm glad he's not our keeper anymore. 

 

 

[sfc4prem]

23 hours ago, SambaMaverick said:

 

KWP probably told everyone to shoot on sight.

[St Chalet]

16 minutes ago, sfc4prem said:

KWP probably told everyone to shoot on sight.

Just to shoot

[benjii]

Hadn't seen these angles before. Genuinely crap.

 

 

[sockeye]

He’s crap but should never have been signed to play in the Premier League

Can’t help but feel doing so left some scar tissue, getting battered week in week out can’t have helped his development

I remember every week having a pit in my stomach whenever the opposition breached the final third

[Turkish]

16 hours ago, Galway saint said:

WBA away in the promotion year 

When was that? It wasn't in the play offs because McCarthy played in that one and we won the league game 2-0

[Turkish]

15 minutes ago, sockeye said:

He’s crap but should never have been signed to play in the Premier League

Can’t help but feel doing so left some scar tissue, getting battered week in week out can’t have helped his development

I remember every week having a pit in my stomach whenever the opposition breached the final third

This is it for me. He was thrown in way out of his depth and asked to do a job he wasn't capable of doing. If that has ruined him or not is difficult to tell but to anyone it was obvious right from the very start he was miles off being a premier league goalkeeper back then, throwing him in like that and then persisting with him despite it being blindingly obvious he was way out of his depth was absolute stupid. 

Edited Thursday at 10:31 by Turkish

[tdmickey3]

16 hours ago, Miltonaggro said:

The Bolton goalkeeper coach has fitted him with new gloves for the next game:

[beatlesaint]

Say what you will about Russell Martin but even he isn’t stupid enough to have signed him for Leicester. 

[Badger]

42 minutes ago, beatlesaint said:

Say what you will about Russell Martin but even he isn’t stupid enough to have signed him for Leicester. 

They can’t afford him. 

[Topcat]

One game in our promotion season that Bazunu helped win for us, was when he went down injured in the warm-up so McCarthy had to start and we beat Preston 3-0..

[SNSUN]

28 minutes ago, Badger said:

They can’t afford him. 

Exactly. Bolton may have got Baz for a nominal fee but Leicester has to go for McCarthy because he was free and the Foxes are more skint than I would be if I did OnlyFans for a career.

[Dr Who?]

He is still young everyone…

 

…has he not thought of trying outfield? 

That got me thinking has anyone converted from keeper to outfield? Players move around positions outfield but I suppose keeper is a lot more specialised. 

Edited Thursday at 17:45 by Dr Who?

[DT]

9 hours ago, benjii said:

Hadn't seen these angles before. Genuinely crap.

 

 

So, so shit. One of the worst keepers I have ever seen us keep faith with, mystifyingly. Cost us so many points over the years. Really can't believe he's a pro, to be honest.

[Gloucester Saint]

8 hours ago, Turkish said:

This is it for me. He was thrown in way out of his depth and asked to do a job he wasn't capable of doing. If that has ruined him or not is difficult to tell but to anyone it was obvious right from the very start he was miles off being a premier league goalkeeper back then, throwing him in like that and then persisting with him despite it being blindingly obvious he was way out of his depth was absolute stupid. 

Ralph was a bit a dick on keeping Bazunu young and struggling in the side, which I rarely said as I liked him, going along with SR because he’d fallen out with McCarthy after the Brighton home game the previous season. Plus the stupid salary Martin Semmens had put Alex on. 

The phrase which came to mind with Gavin that he didn’t look like a natural goalkeeper at any stage.

Compare to a young Tim Flowers when he joined. Raw, made mistakes but made some fantastic saves in equal measure. Chris Nicholl could see that he needed to learn from a quality keeper (albeit mad as a box of frogs) at the other end of his career - John Burridge.

Tim could say he’d been scarred by Wolves’s straight drop through all 4 divisions but the natural positional ability was always there to build on with a more organised and knowledgable grounding in top level English football. 

 

[saintant]

Same old Baz, still costing us even when playing for another club. Make a simple save and West Ham drop 2 points - fuck it up and they gain 2.

[Miltonaggro]

On 09/09/2026 at 19:13, SNSUN said:

If Maradona had hands like Baz he'd have missed the ball for his Hand of God goal and smacked Shilton square in the face. 😁

Shilton gets a mouthful of El Stallion wet look hair gel, England win the World Cup…

[Holmes_and_Watson]

1 hour ago, Dr Who? said:

He is still young everyone…

 

…has he not thought of trying outfield? 

That got me thinking has anyone converted from keeper to outfield? Players move around positions outfield but I suppose keeper is a lot more specialised. 

He's been an outfield player as a youth, so he's already tried that.🙂

'Growing up, Gavin Bazunu wanted to score goals, not save them. Shamrock Rovers forced his hand with Stephen Bradley to blame more than anyone else, having given Bazunu his debut against Bray Wanderers at age 16 in June 2018.

By then, it was too late.

“I hated it to be honest. I first went in goal at Shamrock Rovers when our goalie was sick. Drew the short straw and had to go in.”

When was this, under-14? “I was eight or nine. Managed to fend it off for another four years before I had to go in permanently. I’d play anywhere else. After a season at Leicester Celtic, one half in goal, one half outfield, when I scored 10 goals, I returned to Rovers and realised if I wanted to go higher, goalkeeper was my best chance.”

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/2026/01/31/gavin-bazunu-the-performance-in-hungary-encapsulates-the-change-in-irish-football/

 

[Galway saint]

8 hours ago, Turkish said:

When was that? It wasn't in the play offs because McCarthy played in that one and we won the league game 2-0

It was the Feb 24 game from long back at the results. Think we were 1-0 up and under the cosh and he pulled of a decent save to keep us ahead. We won by a couple but it was an important save at the time.

Still beggars belief he played so many games despite being so shit 

[Dr Who?]

On 10/09/2026 at 20:07, Holmes_and_Watson said:

He's been an outfield player as a youth, so he's already tried that.🙂

'Growing up, Gavin Bazunu wanted to score goals, not save them. Shamrock Rovers forced his hand with Stephen Bradley to blame more than anyone else, having given Bazunu his debut against Bray Wanderers at age 16 in June 2018.

By then, it was too late.

“I hated it to be honest. I first went in goal at Shamrock Rovers when our goalie was sick. Drew the short straw and had to go in.”

When was this, under-14? “I was eight or nine. Managed to fend it off for another four years before I had to go in permanently. I’d play anywhere else. After a season at Leicester Celtic, one half in goal, one half outfield, when I scored 10 goals, I returned to Rovers and realised if I wanted to go higher, goalkeeper was my best chance.”

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/2026/01/31/gavin-bazunu-the-performance-in-hungary-encapsulates-the-change-in-irish-football/

 

I’m out! 😂 

[Bobsmith]

Unfortunately the championship is a level above where he should be playing. Perhaps he'd be fine at league one in a Russell Martin style team, but the championship seems a step too far. 

[Turkish]

On 10/09/2026 at 20:22, Galway saint said:

It was the Feb 24 game from long back at the results. Think we were 1-0 up and under the cosh and he pulled of a decent save to keep us ahead. We won by a couple but it was an important save at the time.

Still beggars belief he played so many games despite being so shit 

At cheers yeah I remember now he did play quite well that day Tbf. So that’s one game in 3 seasons we can think of between us

[AlexLaw76]

I may rubber-neck the Bolton game...you know, reasons...

[BARCELONASAINT]

Baz is having a blinder for Bolton. Cardiff should be 3/4 up by now

 

[Saint NL]

BBC stats show Bazunu has saved 7 shots. 

Can only assume the Cardiff players are aiming at him rather than the goal.

Edited 1 hour ago by Saint NL

[SNSUN]

Just now, Saint NL said:

BBC stats show Bazunu has saved 7 shots. 

Can only assume the Cardiff players are aiming at him rather than the goal.

That still usually results in a goal. Done very well today by all accounts. Not over yet though. 

[AlexLaw76]

4 minutes ago, Saint NL said:

BBC stats show Bazunu has saved 7 shots. 

Can only assume the Cardiff players are aiming at him rather than the goal.

He is by some distance Bolton's best player. He has had a brilliant game

[BARCELONASAINT]

I will actually feel gutted for him if Cardiff score a winner, he doesn't deserve to be on the losing side today. He has been excellent in a poor Bolton team

[AlexLaw76]

Bolton score in the 90th min, despite being absolutely shite all game

Should they win, this will be as much about Bazunu as it would be for the goal scorer

[BARCELONASAINT]

Football is a funny old game, Bolton have been absolutely woeful and have Baz to thank for not being 3/4 down and now they have gone and scored in the 90th minute and look like beating Cardiff

 

[AlexLaw76]

Another great save from Baz deep in injury time

[BARCELONASAINT]

what an incredible save at the end by Baz...... fairs fair he has been excellent today!

[sadoldgit]

Baz is MOTM with a rating of 8.9 out of 10.

[BARCELONASAINT]

2 minutes ago, sadoldgit said:

Baz is MOTM with a rating of 8.9 out of 10.

a much maligned keeper for good reason but today no one could fault that performance, he was the difference

[Gloucester Saint]

1 minute ago, BARCELONASAINT said:

a much maligned keeper for good reason but today no one could fault that performance, he was the difference

Good for him, well done.

[johnnyboy]

[Harry_SFC]

30 minutes ago, BARCELONASAINT said:

Football is a funny old game, Bolton have been absolutely woeful and have Baz to thank for not being 3/4 down and now they have gone and scored in the 90th minute and look like beating Cardiff

 

He was quality today. Obviously not our player anymore but its good to see him performing well for a change. 

[Lighthouse]

Bolton supporting mate text me to say he played ‘an absolute worldly’. Pleased for him.

[East Kent Saint]

Cardiff had 10 shots on target as well so not a defensive shield 😄

[jarhead5]

Baz has more clean sheets than Peretz, this season.