Gordon Banks

Lore & Background

Banks was born in Abbeydale, Sheffield, on 30 December 1937, and brought up in Tinsley. He joined Chesterfield in March 1953 and made his first-team debut in November 1958. He was sold to Leicester City for £7,000 in July 1959. He played in four cup finals for Leicester: beaten in the 1961 and 1963 FA Cup finals, winning the League Cup in 1964, and finishing as finalists in 1965. Despite his World Cup win in 1966, Banks was dropped by Leicester and sold to Stoke City for £50,000 in April 1967. In the 1970 World Cup, he made one of the game's greatest saves to prevent a Pelé goal, but was absent due to illness as England were beaten by West Germany in the quarter-finals. He was Stoke's goalkeeper in the 1972 League Cup win. A car crash in October 1972 cost him the sight in his right eye and eventually his professional career. He played for the Fort Lauderdale Strikers in 1977 and 1978, and was NASL Goalkeeper of the Year in 1977. He briefly managed Telford United, leaving the game in December 1980.

In Their Own Story

The floodlights at Filbert Street hummed their low, electric note as the crowd thinned to a few hundred on a cold November evening in 1957. Banks, barely twenty, stood in the six-yard box with his hands on his hips, watching the opposing winger set up a cross. The ball came in high and looping, and for a heartbeat the keeper simply watched it arc against the grey sky. Then he moved — that sudden, almost lazy explosion of speed — and the ball was his before it kissed the turf. The few supporters left on the terrace let out a single, sharp cheer. Banks turned, wiped his palms on his shorts, and jogged back to his line. Behind him, the old wooden stands creaked in the wind, and somewhere in the city a father was watching his son's face on the radio, not quite believing the boy from the street had just made his first save for the Foxes. The night was ordinary. The memory was not.

Reader's Guide

Gordon Banks is remembered as one of the greatest goalkeepers ever. Key moments include his 1966 World Cup victory with England, his save from Pelé in the 1970 World Cup, and his League Cup wins with Leicester City (1964) and Stoke City (1972). He was named FWA Footballer of the Year in 1972 and FIFA Goalkeeper of the Year six times. The IFFHS ranked him the second-best goalkeeper of the 20th century, after Lev Yashin.

Did You Know?

• Banks was born in Abbeydale, Sheffield, not Leicester.
• He made his first-team debut for Chesterfield in November 1958, not for Leicester City.
• He joined Leicester City in July 1959, not 1956.
• He was sold to Stoke City in April 1967, not to Aston Villa or Tottenham Hotspur.
• His famous World Cup save was from a Pelé goal in 1970, not a Geoff Hurst penalty in 1966.