Gordon Banks is England’s greatest keeper and I was lucky to see him play every game at 1966 World Cup
Sponsored by
IT WOULD have been easier to break into one of Britain’s top security jails than to fire a football past the outstretched hands of Gordon Banks.
He wasn’t referred to as “Safe as the Banks of England” without good reason. And if anyone needs evidence to prove the point, Fifa named him as the best keeper in the world on no less than six occasions.
As a West Ham and England fan for nearly 80 years, I have been lucky enough to have seen some of the greatest keepers of all time.
Big Frank Swift, Bert Williams, Pat Jennings, Jack Kelsey, Gianluigi Buffon, Dino Zoff, Peter Schmeichel, Peter Shilton, David De Gea and Manuel Neuer just a few of them.
When I say Banks was the greatest England keeper ever, there can’t be many who disagree.
There was only one man I believe was better than Gordon, the giant Russian Lev Yashin — who I saw play for the Rest of the World against England at Wembley.
I had a ten-match 1966 World Cup season ticket so I watched every England match, including of course the famous final.
Banks was his usual immaculate self throughout but was not called upon to make any spectacular saves.
We had to wait four years for that.
There are certain stand-out moments in sport imprinted indelibly on the brain. And June 7, 1970 was one of them.
England faced Brazil in a group game in Mexico and I sat watching at home — the first time the World Cup was seen in colour on our TV screens.
I can’t remember who crossed the ball into England’s penalty area but I will never forget what followed. The incomparable Pele, who people of my generation regard as a greater player than Messi, Ronaldo and Maradona, leapt head and shoulders above our defenders.
He met the ball perfectly and headed it down to Banks’ right-hand corner with the force of a guided missile.
Along with millions of others I yelled ‘Goal’.
Banks had other ideas.
With the grace and agility of a leaping salmon, he dived and not only reached the ball but managed to flip it over the bar.
An incredulous Pele stood open-mouthed. Instead of putting Brazil two-up he had managed to just win a corner.
The BBC probably replayed a clip of that save as many times as the Henry Cooper left hook that put Cassius Clay on his backside at Wembley in 1963.
As much as I loved watching Banksie in action, there were many times I cursed him.
Such as on a December night in 1972 at Upton Park when the Hammers were in a League Cup semi-final replay with Stoke.
Harry Redknapp was brought down in the Stoke area — and no he didn’t dive — and the Hammers had a penalty. World Cup hat-trick hero Geoff Hurst stepped up and hit it so hard, it’s a wonder the ball didn’t burst.
Banks dived and somehow pushed it over the bar. Nobody could believed he managed to keep that one out.
Gordon rated it the most significant save of his career. It robbed the Hammers of a place in the final and Stoke went on to win the cup.
Last summer, Chelsea paid a world record £72million for a keeper in Kepa Arrizabalaga.
How much would Gordon have cost in today’s market?
Enough no doubt to make even Roman Abramovich reach for the smelling salts!