‘Always A Great Honour’ - Banks & Shilton’s World Cup Memories

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‘Always A Great Honour’ - Banks & Shilton’s World Cup Memories

Over the years, Leicester City legends Peter Shilton and the late, great Gordon Banks have each shared several stories about their FIFA World Cup experiences in exclusive interviews with Club Historian John Hutchinson.

2026-06-06T07:55+01:00

by John Hutchinson

Published

2 Hours 6 Mins Ago

‘Always A Great Honour’ - Banks & Shilton’s World Cup Memories

John Hutchinson

2026-06-06T07:55+01:00

‘Always A Great Honour’ - Banks & Shilton’s World Cup Memories

John Hutchinson

2026-06-06T07:55+01:00

‘Always A Great Honour’ - Banks & Shilton’s World Cup Memories

John Hutchinson

2026-06-06T07:55+01:00

‘Always A Great Honour’ - Banks & Shilton’s World Cup Memories

John Hutchinson

2026-06-06T07:55+01:00

Since Sandy Wood, who represented the United States at the first-ever World Cup in Uruguay in 1930, many players associated with our Club have represented their countries in the showpiece event.

Two of the most prominent were Gordon and his immediate successor at Filbert Street Peter who, between 1959 and 1974, played a combined total of 695 First Team games for the Foxes.

Gordon, who sadly died in 2019, was of course in England’s 1966 World Cup-winning team. He was also the Three Lions ’keeper in the 1970 side in Mexico. Peter, who was in the provisional squad for the Mexico finals, was also England’s ever-present goalkeeper in the 1982, 1986 and 1990 World Cups in Spain, Mexico and Italy.

Among other stories, Gordon spoke about lifting the Jules Rimet trophy in 1966, his world-class save against Pelé and his food poisoning in 1970. Peter reflected on his involvement in Diego Maradona’s infamous ‘Hand of God’ goal in 1986. We’ve also, over the years, had the unique opportunity to speak to 1966 World Cup Final hat-trick hero Sir Geoff Hurst. Albeit with him not previously having played for Leicester City, among other World Cup memories, he paid tribute to his England team-mate, Banks.

Gordon won his first England cap on 6 April, 1963, two days before Leicester, realistic contenders for the old First Division and FA Cup double, went to the top of the table.

“Winning my first cap was a great thrill for me,” he remembered. “I couldn’t believe I was going to get my first game for England that early. I was still fairly young. To walk out with an England shirt on your back was a wonderful, wonderful feeling. I just couldn’t believe it had happened. Believe me, there were four of five goalkeepers that could have done as good a job. For me to keep my place, I knew I had to be really on my toes and do everything right, because otherwise the manager would go to get somebody else.

“To wear an England shirt was always a great honour but to wear it playing in the World Cup Final, at the biggest tournament in the world, was marvellous. No team knows what’s going to happen in a competition as big as that but here we were, standing in that Wembley tunnel, waiting to walk out, and I’ll tell you… wow, what a day! Then there was the roar of the crowd and the singing of the national anthem. Then there was the Queen coming down, wishing us all the best, and then, at the end, being able to run around the pitch with the World Cup in your hand! It was a wonderful, wonderful day. None of the players there could ever forget it.

“Back in Leicester there was a civic reception for me.I went down to the Town Hall. There was the Lord Mayor and a big crowd of people in the Town Hall Square. I couldn’t believe it.”

After winning 37 England caps as a City player, Gordon’s England career continued to thrive. Another highlight was his ‘Save of the Century’ against Pelé at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico.

“The conditions in Mexico were in the Brazilians’ favour,” Gordon continued. “The pitches were rock hard. I had to get used to the hardness and also to the bounce of the ball, which I did do, in training. When Pelé headed it, I was in the right position. I had to wait for him to head it because if I had anticipated and he headed it the other way, I wouldn’t have had a take-off point. I knew it was going inside that right-hand post but as I dived across, I realised the ball was not going to come where I was diving but bounce a couple of yards in front of me. So now I had to anticipate how high it was going to bounce up from the hard surface, so I reached and got my hand to it. I thought it had gone in because I was breaking my fall on the hard surface. It had gone upwards behind me, and I thought it had gone into the top corner. I heard this almighty roar as I landed on the ground and saw the ball bounce behind the goal. Pelé headed that ball really hard and I didn’t know until a maybe year or so later, when I was looking at it on the screen at an after-dinner speech, that he was as close as that. I had thought that he was just coming inside the penalty area but he was very close to the penalty spot when he headed it”.

A week later, England faced West Germany in the World Cup Quarter-Final, which Gordon missed due to food poisoning: “I couldn’t believe what happened there. I sat down at the same table as the others, we ate the same food together every day, and yet I was the only one who became severely ill like that. I find that absolutely staggering. I couldn’t do anything about it. I wasn’t eating food and I was in a really bad way. The team were training, but I couldn’t. I stayed in my room. Alf Ramsey tried to get me to a fitness test and I said I would give it a try but, in the meeting, when he named me as playing, the sweat started to pour from me and I felt absolutely awful. He came over to me afterwards and asked me: ‘Are you alright?’ I said: ‘No’. So he said: ‘I can’t take a chance’. That’s when Peter Bonetti was thrust in at the last minute and that’s why I have never blamed him.”

Despite being 2-0 up, England lost the game 3-2: “It was a shame that Alf made a little mistake there. We had never lost against West Germany. We were 2-0 up and he decided to try to save Martin Peters’ and Bobby Charlton’s legs. He took them off and that’s when we lost.”

Sir Geoff, Gordon’s World Cup-winning team-mate in 1966, is a big admirer of the former Foxes goalkeeper. “I played with Gordon for England and against him at Leicester. I would simply say that he was the best. He was the best I have ever seen. A great lad. We got on really well. When you play against him or are shooting against him in practice you realise he is a bit more difficult to beat than the others. We had a few English ’keepers close to him, players like Peter Shilton. When you work, play and train with people every day, you get to know them. We were very fortunate in 1966, and it was an important part of our success, to have a fantastic backbone to the England team. There was Banksy, Bobby Moore, Bobby Charlton and Greavsie (Jimmy Greaves) until he was injured.”

As is the case with Gordon, Leicester-born Peter Shilton is another Leicester City and World Cup legend. Ironically, despite winning a record 125 England caps and despite his numerous highlights and achievements for club and country, he is perhaps most famously remembered for Maradona’s famous ‘Hand of God’ goal in a World Cup Quarter-Final tie against Argentina in Mexico City in 1986.

Reflecting on this, Peter said: “My record in World Cups was conceding 10 goals in 17 games which is a joint record with Fabien Barthez. If it wasn’t for Maradona, I would have had the record. Maradona had the ball at the edge of the box. He went round Glenn Hoddle. He played a one-two. We held the line on the edge of the box. He went past that and was more or less near the penalty spot.

“I was on my line. The ball bobbled and it went to one of our own players, Stevie Hodge. It all happened very quickly. I’ve got to stay on my line. Maradona was running in. He would have been five or six yards offside if an Argentinian had put the ball through but Stevie, instead of whacking the ball up the pitch, lost his balance and hooked it back towards his own goal. You sense danger when you are a ’keeper but not when your own player has got the ball. I thought there was no danger but, all of a sudden, this ball was coming over. As a ’keeper you never leave your line unless you are going to get the ball. Instinct told me to go for the ball and just get there before Maradona and clear the danger. He knew he wasn’t getting the ball. That’s why he punched it into the net. I was getting above him and was just going to knock it two or three yards away. From where I was starting, and from where he was running in, I felt I’d done well to get as close to him as I did. I couldn’t get close enough to jump in and get a good fist on it, so I had to lunge and that’s why it looks as though I’ve not got off the floor. I was getting the ball. He didn’t out jump me! I’ve never known a striker put it in with his hand if he could head it in. He knew he wasn’t getting the ball.

“I knew something had happened because my eye was on the ball and I’m punching air! As soon as I looked round, big Terry Butcher had got his arm up. The first thing I did was look at the ref, but he ran off up the pitch. My stomach dropped. It was 0-0 and he allowed the most crucial ‘goal’ in the game to stand.

“A lot of other things went off in that game. Glenn Hoddle was badly tackled so there should have been a free-kick before the ball broke for Maradona to score his second goal.”

Peter did reach the World Cup Semi-Finals in Italy in 1990 when England, with former Fox Gary Lineker in the side, lost to West Germany in a penalty shoot-out. Other players associated with Leicester who also were defeated World Cup Semi-Finalists include Sweden’s Pontus Kåmark, against Brazil in 1994, Turkey’s Muzzy Izzet, against Brazil in 2002, England’s Harry Maguire and Jamie Vardy against Croatia in 2018, and Belgium’s Youri Tielemans, who was an unused substitute in the tie against France in 2018.

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