RIP Gordon Banks, England’s 1966 World Cup-winning goalkeeper, who died yesterday. Arguably the greatest keeper this country has ever produced, he was one of those rare people for whom nobody had a bad word. Banks is best remembered for the “Save of the Century” against Brazil in 1970 (1:15 on this clip), when England had a great chance of winning the World Cup again. Then Banks was struck down by a very mysterious stomach bug. The team were allowed one beer the night before the quarter-final, and it’ll always be suspected that Banks’s drink was spiked. Too ill to play the following day against West Germany, he was replaced by Peter Bonetti. Bonetti was no Banks, England lost 3-2 and didn’t play another World Cup game for twelve years. But June 1970, Gordon Banks was indisputably England’s No.1. Not just as a goalkeeper but, with this at No.1 in the charts, as a pop star.
The original Banksy.
- "No eating, n...12th Oct 2013
- Pick a decade...11th Oct 2013
- I'd have like...10th Oct 2013
- 40 years of L...9th Oct 2013
- Paul Gambacci...7th Oct 2013
- I didn't beli...7th Oct 2013
- My wife's gon...5th Oct 2013
- "Say again......5th Oct 2013
- Say again5th Oct 2013
- No wonder I w...4th Oct 2013
- It would now ...3rd Oct 2013
- The hardest p...2nd Oct 2013
- We always got...1st Oct 2013
- Not going to ...29th Sep 2013
- Feeling lazy ...29th Sep 2013 prev next