Johannes "Hans" Segers (born 30 October 1961) is a Dutch football coach and former professional player who played as a goalkeeper.
As a player, he notably spent eight years with Wimbledon where he featured in the Premier League. He also played in England's top flight for Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur. He had spells in his native the Netherlands with PSV Eindhoven and in Scotland with Dunfermline Athletic, and in the Football League with Sheffield United, Stoke City, Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Playing career Segers was born in Eindhoven, North Brabant. His early career was with home-town club PSV Eindhoven, before being signed for Nottingham Forest by Brian Clough during the 1983–84 season. In his first season with Forest he played 32 times but lost his place to Steve Sutton and played in 12 matches in 1985–86. He made 18 appearances in 1986–87 and signed for Stoke City on loan in March 1987 playing in one Second Division match for the "Potters", a 4–1 defeat away at West Bromwich Albion. He was used less frequently than Sutton during that season 1987–88, appearing in five matches, while Sutton remained the preferred choice in goal. He spent time that season out on loan at Sheffield United and Scottish side Dunfermline Athletic.
In 1988, Segers joined Wimbledon as the replacement for Dave Beasant in the aftermath of their FA Cup glory in 1988. His playing style was considered compatible with Wimbledon's tactics at the time, which emphasized long goal kicks, similar to his predecessor Dave Beasant. He would remain the club's first choice goalkeeper over the next eight seasons, making 265 league appearances. Wimbledon did not secure additional major titles during Segers’s tenure, but the club consistently remained in the top flight, never finishing below 14th place, and peaked at sixth place in the FA Premier League in 1994.
In 1994, he was accused of involvement in match fixing, together with Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar, Wimbledon striker John Fashanu and a Malaysian businessman. The case was referred to Winchester Crown Court for a criminal trial in 1997 but all four defendants were cleared. In December 1997, Grobbelaar and Segers were found guilty by the Football Association of breaching betting regulations.
In the summer of 1996, Segers signed for Wolverhampton Wanderers as understudy to Mike Stowell. A brief spell in the Conference with Woking followed, before returning to Wolves again. A highlight during his time at Wolves was helping them reach the semi-finals of the 1997–98 FA Cup. In the quarter-finals, against Premier League side Leeds United, Wolves were leading 1-0 before a young Robbie Keane conceded a penalty in the dying minutes. However Segers saved Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's penalty to see his side through.
Segers returned to the Premier League with Tottenham Hotspur, where he spent three years (playing just one league game) primarily as a backup goalkeeper until he finally retired in the summer of 2001, a few months before his 40th birthday.
Coaching career He was goalkeeper-coach at Tottenham Hotspur until 26 October 2007 when he was asked to stand down with immediate effect following the sacking of Martin Jol.
Segers returned to his home-town club, PSV Eindhoven as a goalkeeping coach in July 2008 until June 2011, when he linked up again Jol as Fulham's goalkeeping coach.
In November 2018 Hans assumed the role of goalkeeper coach with the Australia national team until the completion of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup.
Segers was goalkeepers coach of Eerste Divisie club FC Eindhoven between 2014 and 2017, and again from 2021.
Career statistics + Appearances and goals by club, season and competitionClubSeasonLeagueFA CupLeague CupOtherTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsNottingham Forest1984–85First Division2804000003201985–86First Division1100010001201986–87First Division1401030001801987–88First Division5000000050Total580504000660Stoke City (loan)1986–87Second Division1000000010Sheffield United (loan)1987–88Second Division100000010110Dunfermline Athletic(loan)1987–88Scottish Premier Division4000000040Wimbledon1988–89First Division3304040204301989–90First Division3801050304701990–91First Division3703020104301991–92First Division4102020104601992–93Premier League4105040005001993–94Premier League4103060005001994–95Premier League3204030004101995–96Premier League4000000040Total2620220260703170Wolverhampton Wanderers1996–97First Division00000000001997–98First Division110200000130Total110200000130Tottenham Hotspur1998–99Premier League1000100020Career total3470290310804150
References