I say this every time there is a discussion on Shilton and am always told that I'm wrong! But anyway, Shilton was no doubt one of the best keepers of all time (maybe the best), but I felt that he never matched the standards he set at Nottingham Forest when he came to us. There, I said it again.
Yeah, he only helped us finish 2nd in the league and if I recall correctly, something like 6 or 7 one nil wins in a row. For the record and to put your post into context, he was probably the second best keeper in the world. The best was that fella at Forest from about 1977-1982
I was looking at Shilton's career stats and noticed he played 1005 times in his senior club career, 13 times for England under-23s and 125 times for England with just one goal. It was scored against Southampton at the Dell playing for Leicester in October 1967 "direct from a clearance at the opposite end of the pitch. The Southampton goalkeeper, Campbell Forsyth, misjudged Shilton's long punt upfield, which, instead of splashing harmlessly in the mud, spun off the pitch and flew over Forsyth's head into the goal."
Yes, I know the stats which is why most people disagree with me. But, when he was at Forest he had an aura about him which said, "don't even bother about shooting, you're not going to score". I never felt that with us. That hard edge professionalism he had was beginning to fade. But still one of the best in the world. Was Neimi better? Probably not but I just loved his athleticism.
Woah ... no way Lff. He was still the ultimate Professional in terms of his training and dedication to goal keeping. I can't quite understand what you use as a measure for that and how you judge "hard edge professionalism" unless you stood on the side of the training ground at Saints and Forest and saw a difference. Bothe sets of staff said he trained obsessively. Even when he went to Derby afterwards, people commented on his training. I agree he was a better keeper in his Forest days, but as I said later in my post. Peter Shilton at Forest was the best keeper in the World. We had the second best keeper in the world. Everyone talks about great saves, but nobody ever remembers the save at home to Norwich he made (I don't think it was even shown on television or recorded). It was like Gordon Banks save v Brazil. I have never seen anything like it.
There was other stuff outside the training ground though! Either way, I'm not denying he wasn't good, just not AS good. And for that and other reasons, I preferred Neimi. I knew I shouldn't have brought it up again
Why not? It's a good, healthy debate. See, I now think it is for non-footballing reasons you haven't picked him
