A solidly built goalkeeper, Shwan was born in Iraq, but moved with his family to England and was brought up in Hastings, where he played in the town's football team at the age of 17 after spending time in Gillingham's youth set-up. Interesting a lot of clubs, Spurs signed him and he progressed through the ranks at the club, but being well served for first team keepers, he signed for Woking in 2004, having been on loan at the Cards the previous season.
Confident
and big for his age, Jalal did well at Woking and had a
loan move to Sheffield Wednesday, although he didn't get
a game at Hillsborough, before moving permanently to
Peterborough United. Getting only a handful of
appearances for the Posh, he was loaned out to Morecambe
and then Bournemouth, where he impressed enough to earn
a move and he became the number one keeper at Dean Court
for a good period of his five years there. He was
loaned out a couple of times before signing for Bury,
from where he played for Northampton Town, Macclesfield
Town, Wrexham before re-joining the Silkmen at Moss Rose
in the summer of 2017.
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