Links With The Past: Peter Shilton & Steve Walsh
Peter Shilton and Steve Walsh are names firmly established in the Club's folklore and their presence is still felt at King Power Stadium to this day...
Peter Shilton played 348 games for Leicester City between 1966 and 1974, winning 20 caps for England during that time. He also played 242 games for Southampton between 1982 and 1987, winning a further 49 caps on the way to his record total of 125 England appearances.
In was during his spell at Southampton that Peter wore this England shirt, which is on loan to our Club’s collection. This Umbro goalkeeper shirt design was used by England in 21 games between 1984 and 1986. Peter played in 19 of these games.
The shirt has been signed under the crest by Peter. It has a black no.1 on the reverse, with a yellow border, outlined in black. It was worn with black shorts with yellow seams and black socks with two yellow hoops.
The Club has several other items of memorabilia associated with Peter’s time at Filbert Street, including a couple more shirts. This 331/3 rpm mono vinyl record was released in 1973. It is a ‘Sports-talk’ recording featuring interviews with Leicester City stars Shilton and Jon Sammels, one interview on each side of the record. Both players have signed the reverse side of the record sleeve.
The 96-piece Shilton jigsaw dates from the 1971/72 season, taken at the time manager Jimmy Bloomfield joined the Club. Peter’s Leicester City team-mates at the time included Steve Whitworth, David Nish, John Sjoberg, Graham Cross, Ally Brown and Lenny Glover. They were soon to be joined by Sammels, Alan Birchenall and Keith Weller.
Leicester City have played finals at Wembley on 12 occasions. These were four FA Cup Finals, three League Cup Finals, one Community Shield and four First Division (now Championship) Play-Off Finals for a place in the Premier League.
Steve Walsh played in six of these matches, and would have played in seven had he not been suspended for the 2000 League Cup Final. On three occasions, Steve left the Twin Towers with a winner’s medal. All of his medals are on display in the Legends Lounge at King Power Stadium. Pride of place goes to the medal he won in the famous victory against Dave Bassett’s Crystal Palace in 1996.
Steve Claridge’s famous ‘shinned’ goal four seconds from the end of extra-time, seconds after Zeljko ‘Spider’ Kalac had replaced Kevin Poole in goal in anticipation of a penalty shootout, is one of the most famous goals in the Club’s history.
The medal itself reflects the fact that the Football League was sponsored by Endsleigh Insurance for three seasons, from 1993/4 until 1995/6. Endsleigh were just one of eight companies to have sponsored the league since 1983. Their company name is prominent on both sides of the medal.
On one side it surrounds a representation of a laurel wreath and a group of footballers, set above the inscription ‘Division One Play Off Winners’. On the other side, the Endsleigh logo is prominent above the inscription ‘Endsleigh League 1995-6’.
Steve’s Play-Off Final medal against Crystal Palace is exactly the same (apart from the date) as the winners’ medal he won against Derby County two years earlier. This is also displayed in the Legends Lounge, alongside his shirt and boots from that famous match.