That outstanding England goalkeeper,
Gordon Banks, will stay long in the mind
for a stupendous save and a mysterious
episode of food poisoning.
He once told me that Alf Ramsey
convinced him that, after he had let in
a long-range, left-footed Brazilian free-
kick at Wembley, his “mind’s not got to
wander”. Nor in future would it.
The save he made from Pele’s point-
blank header in the 1970 World Cup
finals in Guadalajara stays vividly in the
mind. So, alas, does the memory of
seeing him, early in the morning of a
World Cup quarter-final versus Germany
in Leon, walking shakily across the grass
on the arm of the England doctor.
Somehow or other he had become
subject to food poisoning. No one else
in the England squad had suffered thus.
So it was that the Germans won a match
they would surely have lost had Banks
been playing. Peter Bonetti, who took
his place, was sadly fallible.
In person, Banks had modesty and
charm. A Sheffield man who found fame
at Leicester City, he had strength,
courage and agility.Gordon Banks: a goalkeeper of strength, courage and agility
THE VOICE OF FOOTBALL
Brian
GLANVILLE
Number one...
Gordon BanksStupendous...saving
a header from Pele