Peter Shilton's autobiography comes over half a decade after he ended his thirty-one year career, and it uncovers some of the rumours and specualtion surrounding the former England man's life. With the Potters...
Stoke City in the mid-seventies were synonymous with great goalkeepers. Gordon Banks was probably the best in the world when he suffered blindness in a car accident which ended his career.
But City went out and purchased one Peter Shilton; Tony Waddington had found the perfect replacement. Humble beginnings... Peter Shilton grew from Leicester City's reserve ranks to become one of the world's finest goalkeepers.
His performances at Filbert Street took the Foxes to the FA Cup final in 1969 but when they failed to build on these foundations, Shilton looked for pastures new. 'Waddo's Wonders' Waddington's Potters side were among the most flamboyant, entertaining and successful of clubs in the 1970's, and Shilton joined a side which included the likes of England colleague Mike Pejic, mercurial winger Terry Conroy, and the striking sensation John Ritchie.
Although Shilton's career in the Potteries went without trophies, his reputation continued to grow, as did his collection of international caps.
By the time Shilton last donned an England jersey in the Third Place Play-Off against the hosts at the Italia '90 World Cup, he had amassed 125, a figure that still stands as a record. Off again...
But as Waddington's magic touch wavered, and he was eventually displaced, Shilton found himself on the move again, this time to join Brian Clough and Peter Taylor at Nottingham Forest for £270,000, a then-world-record for a keeper.
Finally Shilton won the silverware that his talents richly deserved.
Forest, reinforced by their new keeper's heroics and a cast-iron rearguard, stormed to the 1978 League championship, and followed that up with two League Cups and two European Cup wins in the space of a three years. Saints, Rams and the 'Hand of God' Further spells at Southampton, and then Derby County kept him in the upper echelons of the game, his amazing fitness and stamina made him a formidable barrier even in his late thirties. Shilton's stock was so high that even Maradona resorted to punching the ball past him in Mexico '86, possibly the lowest point in a career of highs. The 'Big 1000' In a playing career spanning eleven clubs, thirty-one years and over 1000 games Shilton was impeccable.
Shilton - one of England's greatest ever players, and a Stoke City legend to boot. 'Peter Shilton - The Autobiography' is out now. | 
