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Former Three Lions stopper heads to Bedfordshire
Arsenal and England legend David Seaman was a surprise visitor to the Brache training ground this morning to present Town keeper James Shea with a special Premier League football after the long-serving member of Luton's squad made his top flight debut last term.
The 33-year-old spent six years with the Gunners having come through the ranks at the Emirates, winning the FA Youth Cup and Premier League Academy in 2009, going on to be named on the bench for the Champions League clash with Montpellier HSC, but eventually left in 2013 without a first team appearance to his name.
Moving to Kenilworth Road in 2017, Shea has helped the club to three promotions in that time, signing a new contract in the summer to take his stint with the club into an eighth year. Having been number three at Kenilworth Road last season due to the arrival of Tim Krul, with Town all but officially relegated, he got his first ever appearance in the highest tier of English football in the final 15 minutes of the last game against Fulham, replacing the previously ever-present Thomas Kaminski.
Despite not having played a first team game for almost a year, Shea didn't let anyone down, commanding his area well with the highlight of his cameo being a terrific save from Thomas Cairney's 25-yard drive that he tipped over the bar to huge cheers from the home faithful. With the rest of Luton's squad having picked up their balls earlier in the campaign, Seaman, who won 75 England caps and made almost 750 first team appearances, including more than 400 for Arsenal, was a special visitor to surprise a clearly shocked Shea with the honour.
Addressing the squad, Town boss Rob Edwards said: "This is a really special presentation to a very special person who made his Premier League debut at the back end of last season and I think this is a really nice way of doing it. Sheasy this is for you, seven years at the football club, you're an amazing person, a massive part of what we do and I know it took until the 38th game of the season to get you those minutes, but I'm really pleased that we did that. You're someone who I think is getting better and better all the time and you really deserve it."
With Town suffering a huge injury crisis during the season, it meant that Shea was on the bench for large parts of the run-in, including a trip to his old side in early April. That day, the Gunners ran out comfortable 2-0 winners, as speaking before this week's presentation, Shea said: "It's always nice to be fair, always nice to go back to where you've been before, see some old faces, have a catch-up and everything. I'm not going to lie, I was just gutted that we lost."
The match was far smoother for Mikel Arteta's title chasers than their trip to Luton just before Christmas which saw the Hatters leading 3-2 at one point and then seconds away from earning a precious point until Declan Rice rose highest to head home in stoppage time. Shea added: "I'm an Arsenal fan and I've never been so disappointed when Arsenal have scored a goal in my life. I was gutted. I remember sitting and thinking, oh my god we've got a point against Arsenal here and then 10 seconds later, Rice has nicked one at the end and you're thinking, for god's sake."