Peter Shilton - Local Boy Made Good, England Calls, Stoke City, Nottingham Forest and cups with Clough
| Peter Shilton | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Peter Leslie Shilton | |
| Date of birth | September 18, 1949 (age 57) | |
| Place of birth | Leicester, England | |
| Nickname | Shilts | |
| Position | Goalkeeper | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| Leicester City | ||
| Professional clubs* | ||
| Years | Club | Apps (goals) |
|
1966-1974 1974-1977 1977-1982 1982-1987 1987-1992 1992-1995 1995 1995 1995-1996 1996 1996-1997 |
Leicester City Stoke City Nottingham Forest Southampton Derby County Plymouth Argyle Wimbledon Bolton Wanderers Coventry City West Ham United Leyton Orient |
286 (1) 110 (0) 202 (0) 188 (0) 175 (0) 034 (0) 000 (0) 001 (0) 000 (0) 000 (0) 009 (0) |
| National team | ||
| 1970-1990 | England | 125 (0) |
|
* Professional club appearances and goals |
||
Peter Leslie Shilton OBE (born Leicester, England, 18 September 1949) was an outstanding goalkeeper who holds the record for playing more games than any other player.
In a 30-year career which took in eight clubs, three World Cups, two European Cup finals and more than 1,000 competitive matches, Shilton emerged as one of the English game's genuine legends.
Local Boy Made Good
Shilton was 13 when he started training at schoolboy level with his local club Leicester City, where he caught the eye of first team goalkeeper Gordon Banks, who commented to the coach about how promising he was.
In May 1966, a 16 year old Shilton had made his debut for Leicester against Everton and his potential was quickly spotted to the extent that the Leicester management sided with their teenage prodigy and sold Banks, a World Cup winner the previous year, to Stoke City.
England Calls
An ambitious Shilton considered moving from Leicester after relegation, but decided to stick with his boyhood team. At this stage, Banks was still England's first choice keeper, but the remaining brace of back-ups from the 1970 World Cup, Peter Bonetti and Alex Stepney, had been cast aside by Ramsey so Shilton could begin to regard himself as his country's number two goalkeeper at the age of 22.
Life with Leicester City rumbled on in a rather event-free manner as Shilton's England career progressed. His fourth and fifth England caps came towards the end of 1972 (England had failed to qualify for the European Championship competition) but then a tragic incident suddenly saw Shilton propelled into the limelight as England's number one keeper. Though Liverpool goalkeeper Ray Clemence was called up to make his debut a month later in England's opening qualifier for the 1974 World Cup, (a 1-0 win over Wales) it was clear that Shilton suddenly had to bear responsibility for keeping England's goal.
This he did with aplomb through the summer of 1973, keeping three clean sheets as England defeated Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland, while drawing with Czechoslovakia - a match which earned Shilton his tenth cap - as a warm-up to a crucial World Cup qualifier against Poland in Chorzow a week later. This went badly wrong for England, with Shilton powerless to stop both goals in a 2-0 defeat and therefore making victory in the final qualifier, against the same opposition at Wembley four months later, a necessity if England were to make the finals. "The Perfect Save"
Shilton was selected by Ramsey for the match, walking out behind captain Martin Peters to earn his 15th cap.
When the ball finally did get into the net it was at Shilton's end, in the first moment which formed part of the whole definition of Shilton's career.
As Domarski shaped to hit the ball first time, Shilton got himself into position to be able to block a shot coming at him from any angle.
England equalised swiftly through a penalty from Allan Clarke, with Shilton famously turning his back on the ball at the opposite end because he could not bear to look, but Tomaszewski's continued heroics kept England out to the final whistle, and England failed to qualify for the World Cup.
Stoke City
As the season came to an end, Leicester got to the FA Cup semi finals where Shilton was beaten - in a replay after the initial game ended goalless - by a stunning lobbed volley from Liverpool's Kevin Keegan, which helped dump Leicester out of the competition at the cruellest of stages.
Shilton left Leicester that summer, deciding he needed a change. Shilton played just once for England in 1975, not at all in 1976 and just twice in 1977 - indeed, he became so frustrated at his lack of chances that in the summer of 1976, he pulled out of the squad which was heading for the USA for a bi-centennial celebration tournament and asked not to be considered again, only to reverse his decision three months later. Clemence was in control, overtaking Shilton's caps total in the process as England fought in vain to reach the 1978 World Cup.
Nottingham Forest and cups with Clough
Nottingham Forest made an offer of £250,000 and Shilton signed a month into the new season. Shilton made a save in the clinching 0-0 draw against Coventry City which critics regarded as his greatest ever - a vicious close range header from Mick Ferguson seemed destined for the net with Shilton slightly out of position, but he got across to palm it over the bar.
As if to emphasise his return to the top of his game, new England coach Ron Greenwood started to select Shilton with similar regularity as Clemence until it got to the stage where he genuinely couldn't decide whom his best keeper was and therefore made a point of alternating them.
Forest won the League Cup again in 1979 - this time Shilton played as they defeated Southampton 3-2 at Wembley - before reaching the European Cup final where a Trevor Francis goal was enough to beat Swedish side Malmö in Munich.
Shilton then featured heavily as England qualified for the 1980 European Championships in Italy - their first tournament for a decade.
Prior to competing in Italy, Shilton had another eventful season with Forest, reaching a third consecutive League Cup final, with Wolverhampton Wanderers the opponents at Wembley.
Peter Shilton's tenure at Nottingham Forest was the most successful of his professional career. Southampton
Shilton had won his 30th England cap in a 2-0 win over Spain in March 1980;
Life began to decline for Shilton afterwards.
Shilton had played in two of the qualifying games - a goalless draw against Romania and a vital 1-0 win over Hungary. Thankfully for Shilton and England, the result was right this time and England were going to their first World Cup for a dozen years, with Shilton appearing in the finals for the first time at the comparatively ripe age of 32. England won 3-1 and Shilton stayed in goal for the two remaining group games. That was sufficient to advance to the second phase, but England was eliminated after two draws despite Shilton not conceding any goals.
Shilton duly left Forest and, despite interest from Arsenal, opted to join Southampton, where his former international team-mates Keegan and Alan Ball were both playing. With Bobby Robson now running the England team, Shilton's international career flourished, playing in Robson's first ten matches, even captaining the side in seven of them in the absence of Bryan Robson and Ray Wilkins.
When Clemence came back for a qualifier for the 1984 European Championships against Luxembourg, Shilton did not need to worry.
England failed to qualify for the European Championships, while at Southampton, Shilton suffered FA Cup semi final heartbreak again when he was beaten by a last minute Adrian Heath header which gave Everton a place in the final. It was 1985 before Shilton was once more not selected for an England game - and even then it was so Robson could give a debut to the Manchester United goalkeeper Gary Bailey in a meaningless friendly.
A 70th cap came Shilton's way in a shock 1-0 defeat against Scotland at Hampden Park;
This was assured as England went through the whole qualifying campaign undefeated and by the time they played Mexico in an acclimatisation match prior to the competition, Shilton was 80 games into his England career, having beaten Banks' record for a goalkeeper of 73 caps the previous year against Turkey.
The "Hand Of God"
At the World Cup itself, England started slowly, losing the opening group match to Portugal and then drawing against outsiders Morocco, during which time Robson was led off injured and Wilkins was sent off. In their absences, Shilton was handed the captaincy as England found their form to destroy Poland 3-0 in their final group game - Gary Lineker got them all - and progress to the second round.
There they met Paraguay and though Shilton did have to make one awesome fingertip save during the first half, England were rarely troubled. Lineker scored twice and Peter Beardsley once as England coasted through 3-0 and into a quarter final meeting with Argentina, a match which again would ultimately form part of the legend of Shilton's whole career.
Shortly afterwards, Maradona scored a legitimate and breath-taking goal, taking on pretty much the whole England defence and Shilton before shooting into an empty net.
In 1987, Grandslam Entertainment released a computer game with the not-so-subtle title of 'Peter Shilton's Handball Maradona!'
Disaster at Euro 88
However, he continued to play for England, featuring in a straightforward and successful qualification campaign for the 1988 European Championships, which were to be held in West Germany.
Shilton had won his 90th cap for England in a 2-0 win over Northern Ireland in a European Championship qualifier - as it turned out, his 100th cap was due during the finals themselves, assuming he was selected, though this looked a certainty. Marco van Basten ruined Shilton's day and England's hopes of progress with a ruthless second half hat-trick as England lost 3-1. Robson left Shilton out of the third and final group game as it was now meaningless, but England still managed to lose it, also 3-1. Chris Woods, longtime understudy to Shilton (and his teenage understudy a decade earlier at Forest - he had played in the League Cup final when Shilton was cup-tied) was given a rare game.
Some claimed it made sense for Shilton to retire from his England career afterwards with precisely 100 caps to his name. Shilton played in all bar one of the England games over the next 18 months - the one he missed saw a debut for a future England goalkeeping great, David Seaman of Queens Park Rangers. Italia 90
In June 1989, Shilton broke his old England skipper Bobby Moore's record of 108 appearances for his country when he won his 109th cap in a friendly against Denmark in Copenhagen. Shilton would later perform heroics as England got through the group, beat Belgium 1-0 in a tight and dramatic second round match, and then edged past Cameroon 3-2 in the quarter finals, thanks to two Lineker penalties after England went 2-1 down. Then came the West Germans in the semi finals, Shilton's 124th England game.
It was goalless at half time, but shortly after the restart Shilton was left powerless by Andreas Brehme's free kick which looped horribly off Paul Parker's shin and dropped into the net over Shilton's head, despite his furious backpedalling attempts to tip the ball over. Lineker's late equaliser salvaged a draw for England but Shilton could not get close enough to any of the highly efficient and confident penalties taken by the Germans in the deciding shoot out, while England missed two of theirs and went out of the tournament.
Shilton was the keeper for the third place play-off game, which ended in a 2-1 win for hosts Italy.
Management
In 1991, Derby were relegated and Shilton started to consider his playing future. Beyond
With 998 competitive matches to his name, Shilton was anxious to reach the 1,000 mark and this he did when he joined Leyton Orient.
Shilton, recovered from financial troubles caused by business decisions and gambling, is now a prolific after-dinner speaker.
Shilton received the MBE, and later the OBE, during his playing career for services to football.
Shilton is a keen golfer, having an 18 handicap.
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