Give it up for the greatest keeper ever. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/stoke_city/9411597.stm
Fantastic news for not just Gordon himself after his footballing career was cut short but also for Stoke City FC and the city of Stoke-on-Trent for having the privalege to be able to induct the greatest goalkeeper of all time.
Many would agree that Banks is the greatest keeper ever, the only other name I've heard mentioned to be in the same class as him is the Black Spider himself Lev Yashin
The best that i've seen (as I didn't see Schmeichel at his best) would probably be Gianluigi Buffon, very fine keeper. Here's 2 of Gordon's finest moments: I believe Banksy rates the penalty save off Geoff Hurst above the Pele save and you can see what he means!! Cannot find it on YouTube, but I know it's on there somewhere
My girlfriend works in the Holiday Inn in Clayton and they get a lot of Stoke players in there. The great man was in there himself prior to the Monday nights match. When he came to the counter for a drink my girlfriend served him and said, "you look just like Gordon Banks" to which he replied, "that's because I am Gordon Banks". He was grinning from ear to ear. I absolutely pissed myself laughing when she told me, she said he took it with great humour. The bloke is an absolute legend as far as I'm concerned, a true gentleman too. Incidentally, when I went to pick her up from work at 5 o'clock, the match officials were in there too. I noticed Howard Webb with a few other people, who I later discovered were the referee and 2 linesmen. If I'd known I could have knobbled the blind idiot who was running the line and allowed the "offside goal" to stand.
