He’s a Socceroo, won multiple Hyundai A-League titles and is in the form of his career but all of those highs almost didn’t happen for Sydney FC gloveman Andrew Redmayne.
Speaking on Fox Sports’ Football Podcast on Monday, the 31-year-old revealed he was ready to walk away from football during his time at Western Sydney Wanderers in 2016.
Redmayne was the Wanderers’ number one and helped the club reached the Hyundai A-League Grand Final the previous season, but something just was not right.
“I’d had enough of football. I’d lost the passion and I just wasn’t enjoying football,” Redmayne said on the podcast.
“I consider myself a really hard worker and I was still working extremely hard but I just wasn’t enjoying it. I was going through the motions and it wasn’t sitting right with me.
REPORT: Sydney FC’s late double strike ensures win over brave Mariners
READ: Future bright for Sydney FC as young guns Tilio and van der Saag make their mark
“I was almost ready to retire, ready to walk away from the game.
“I was going to see out the length of my contract at the Wanderers and then just pour coffees and continue with my studies and that was going to be it.”
As circumstances would have it, the Wanderers wanted to sign Vedran Janjetovic from Sydney FC, allowing Redmayne to go the other way and link up with the man he credits for saving his career.
“I was fortunate enough that John Crawley brought me in to Sydney… I’m just so grateful Sydney FC saw a quality in me,” Redmayne explained.
“I would say [he saved my career]. But, in saying that Popa [Tony Popovic] and Spider [Zeljko Kalac] saved my career at Western Sydney as well.
TALKING POINTS: Robinson's selection dilemma at Newcastle - who misses out?
ROUND 20: Who made the Hyundai A-League Team of the Week?
“I was told I wasn’t good enough for the A-League when I left Melbourne City. I was in limbo there and Popa and Spider brought me in so I’ve been saved twice.”
Redmayne’s association with Crawley goes back more than a decade, with the two working together from the very start of the Sky Bluescustodian's career at Central Coast back in 2008.
Crawley – now the Socceroos goalkeeper coach – has helped develop a string of Australia’s best shot-stoppers, including Maty Ryan and Danny Vukovic.
Asked why Crawley has enjoyed so much success as a goalkeeper coach, Redmayne said: “He throws out the textbook.
“He takes a goalkeeper and he says ‘what attributes do you have and how can we utilise those attributes to make you the best goalkeeper you can be?’.
“The drills we used for Vuka [Danny Vukovic] when Vuka was there [at Sydney FC] are completely different to the drills when I would stay behind and then work on when Vuka had gone in.
“It morphed again when we went into the season where I started playing, the philosophy of this is what a goalkeeper should do is disregarded.”
Since re-uniting with Crawley at Sydney FC in 2017, Redmayne has won two Championships, two Premierships and an FFA Cup title so far, with the club destined for more silverware in 2019/20.
His ultra-consistent form earned him a call-up to the Socceroos squad, making his debut in a friendly against Korea Republic last June.
MORE: The ’surreal’, ‘teary’ moment driving Redmayne to new limits
MORE: 'That's how confident I was': Redmayne relives Grand Final shootout heroics
There's no doubt Redmayne's immediate focus will be on Friday night's Sydney Derby against the Wanderers and gaining revenge for the Sky Blues' only loss so far this season.
Round 18
Sydney FC v Western Sydney Wanderers
Friday, 28 February
Netstrata Jubilee Stadium
Kick-off: 8pm AEDT
