Shilton was one of England’s finest goalkeepers and, further to this, one of the Three Lions’ best players more generally. Shilton’s career at both club and international levels ensured that he set new records for the number of games played in English soccer. His playing career began in the late 1960s and continued until the mid-1990s, before he finally retired from soccer.
Shilton’s playing career began with Leicester City in the 1960s. It was with Leicester that he first emerged as the first-choice goalkeeper, displacing the great Banks between the goalposts. With Leicester City, he reached the FA Cup final in 1969, although they lost the final to Manchester City. Shilton played over 200 games for the club before moving to Stoke City during the 1970s.
In 1977, he joined Nottingham Forest under Clough. Shilton and Forest flourished in England and Europe. In 1978, Nottingham Forest won the First Division title and went on to European glory with a 1-0 victory against Malmö a year later. In 1980, Nottingham Forest defended the European Cup with a 1-0 victory, and so Shilton kept clean sheets in both finals. Nottingham Forest also won the League Cup twice.
During this period, Shilton also made the England goalkeeper position his own. England’s failure to qualify for the World Cup during the 70s ensured that he had to wait until the early 1980s to play in his first international tournament.
The very first FIFA World Cup, in which he played, was the 1982 World Cup in Spain. He had an excellent record in this tournament, as England conceded just one goal in their five games. Despite not losing a game, England went out in the 2nd group stage.
The 1986 World Cup was one in which England progressed to the quarter-finals. In the quarter-finals, a resurgent England faced Argentina, led by the inspirational Maradona. The first goal of this game was one of the most controversial, as Maradona handled the ball over the reaching Shilton to leave himself with an open net to shoot into. Despite the handball, the referee gave the ‘goal,’ and Argentina went on to win the game 2 -1.
Italia ’90 was Shilton’s last World Cup for England, and it was one that they almost won. In this World Cup, England advanced to the semi-finals, where they faced West Germany. As the game ended 1-1, it went to a penalty shoot-out, but Shilton could not save any of the German penalties. Two missed England penalties, therefore, ensured Germany’s victory. He played his last game for the Three Lions in the third-place play-off with Italy before retiring. Overall, Shilton played 125 games for England, which remains a record number.
Shilton continued to play soccer at the club level in the lower leagues. With Leyton Orient, he played out the remaining games of his career and set further records. In 1996, Shilton played his 1,000th league game, setting a new English soccer record, having played 1,005 games before his retirement.
It’s hard to say Peter Shilton was England’s best player because he was a goalkeeper. Goalkeeping is very different from all the outfield playing positions. He played more with his hands rather than feet, so there’s not much to say about his technical ball skills (passing, crossing, dribbling, shooting, tackling, etc).
Yet, Shilton still played a record number of games for England and was undoubtedly an outstanding goalkeeper for his country. It would be better to ask, was he England’s best-ever goalkeeper? Many pundits say Gordon Banks, England’s 1966 keeper, was the best-ever goalkeeper for the Three Lions. Banks kept four clean sheets in England’s triumphant World Cup. He also made a fantastic save in England’s match against Brazil in the 1970 FIFA World Cup.
From a statistical perspective, however, Peter Shilton was a better England goalkeeper than Banks. He conceded 80 goals in 125 matches for England. Banks conceded 57 goals during his 73 matches for the Three Lions. Thus, he conceded an average of 0.64 goals per match, which is better than Banks’ 0.78 goals per game. So, he was better than Banks in that respect.
Peter Shilton is one of the great players in the history of English soccer. At both the club and national levels, he set new records, including a record number of clean sheets with the England national team, having not conceded a goal in 66 England games —a record not even Banks could match. Later, the distinguished goaltender received an OBE (Order of the British Empire).
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