It was obvious that goalkeepers were different when philosopher-cum-shot stopper Albert Camus delivered this postmatch aside: “All I know most surely about morality and obligations I owe to football.”

Cut to the snug of a pub in Prestbury, Cheshire, and another radical thinker is talking of positivity principles and nurses and Victorian philanthropy. This is going to be no ordinary interview.

Brad Friedel, the Blackburn Rovers goalkeeper, has created what he terms football’s first self-help manual, which some may think is timely, given the misfortune that befell Scott Carson against Croatia at Wembley and Paul Robinson before him. In it the American explains how to combat your problems, how goalkeeping explains the world and his hopes for a more ethical future. He does not want to come across as a tree-hugging do-gooder, but those who stuck their size nines into Gerry Sutcliffe, the Sports Minister, for describing football’s wages as “obscene” may want to take note.

“I like the money, but of course teachers should get more than us,” Friedel said. “I’m not saying footballers should save the environment and change the NHS, but if we portrayed ourselves 15 per cent better then it would help.”

The goal: Friedel says that the goalline morphs into the most important thing to him. There is no room for ambiguity. Life, however, is chaotic and people lose track of what matters. His first positivity principle is “create your own goals”.

Friedel has just opened a football academy in Lorain, Ohio. It is more than a millionaire’s plaything, however, and involves a retail complex designed to counter the depression induced by the closing of the local Ford factory, rather than mere postmatch blues. “The academy is just part of it,” he said. “We want to create jobs and they, in turn, will provide taxes for the city. A depressed place is not going to welcome you unless you can prove you can help.”

The fripperies of football grate in this wider context. He says that he hates it when players “cash people off”, meaning rubbing their fingertips together to represent their financial superiority. “Somewhere in this country at some point it became accepted that if you had a better car and a better shirt then you’re a better person,” he said. “It’s wrong.”

The posts: Friedel believes that these two pieces of wood, measuring 2.44m (8ft) are lucky. He does not rely on them but believes he will enjoy good luck in the long run. He cites the negativity of an Anfield legend he worked with during his Liverpool career as a counterpoint. “Every other word was an ‘f’ or a ‘c’ one, the negativity was incredible. I thought, ‘Don’t you like yourself?’ ”

His second positivity principle is “believe in good fortune”. It may be his status as an outsider and a foreigner that gives him his unusual view. Certainly, his background is intriguing, training at the University of California, Los Angeles, alongside Carl Lewis, the sprinter, getting $30 a day from the United States team and then having Milan Mandaric, the Leicester City owner whom he met in the United States, bail him out while his work permit problems dragged on.

“I owe more to him than most for giving me the bargaining strength to get to Europe instead of being stuck in a binding US Soccer Federation contract,” Friedel said.

He respects both Mandaric and the small-print. “I’ve known players who sign a four-year deal and then, a year later, go in and ask for money. The club doesn’t give it to them so the player says he wants to leave and he wants his contract paid up in full. I mean, what gives him the right? And the chairman can only fine him two weeks’ wages. The players have the upper hand and it’s wrong.”

The crossbar: This represents the outer limit of the space Fridel has to defend tenaciously. His third positivity principle is “the only limitations are the limitations that you place upon yourself”.

Now 36, Friedel is enjoying an Indian summer at Blackburn. Despite his reservations about some endemic attitudes, he loves the sport and admits he is no saint. However, anyone looking laterally for a cure for English myopia may be intrigued by his belief in the domino effect of footballers behaving badly. “When a player is left out and shows discontent to the manager he is disrespecting the player chosen instead of him,” he said. “It’s ego, it’s ‘look at me’. Kids see it and they become uncoachable and then uncontrollable. We see it at the academy – the abuse from the parents is outrageous”.

The tunnel: This is where opportunity starts and ends. All of us have the chance to capitalise on opportunity, but many people allow it to trickle through their fingers, seemingly unaware that they will not always be in the arena. It is imperative to create a new stage. His last positivity principle is “constantly be prepared to reinvent yourself”.

Friedel shuns talk of putting something back but wants to take advantage of his situation. The past is littered with highs (82 international caps) and lows (the corporate influences on team selection with the US), but he is looking ahead.

He believes that Blackburn are on the up, but his manual, provisionally titled Bling Free Zone, mentions a need to create a new momentum before the present one peters out. It is a theory that England and their new head coach may want to take on board.