Gordon Banks,  (born 30 December 1937-12 February 2019), considered the best goalkeeper in the world by many of his contemporaries, was a key member of England’s World Cup winning team of 1966.  At six-foot one and thirteen-and-a-half stones, he had the ideal physique for a goalkeeper. Banks started his career at Chesterfield before moving to Leicester City in the summer of 1959. Banks was on the losing side in the 1961 and 1963 FA Cup Finals, but won the League Cup with Leicester in 1964. Banks played 73 times for England  and is remembered in particular for one piece of estraordinary skill against Pele in the 1970 World Cup finals in Mexico. Pele later described it as ‘the greatest save I have ever seen'.  The next day the Mexican newspapers nicknamed Banks ‘El Magnifico'.  Gordon joined Stoke City in 1967 for £50,000 and helped Stoke win the first trophy in their history in 1972 - the League Cup against Chelsea - and he was voted ‘Footballer of the Year’ that same year. Banks' England career also began during that period, his senior debut coming in 1963 against Scotland at Wembley. In the 1966 World Cup, when all England’s games were at Wembley, Banks layed a major part in his country’s success. He kept three clean sheets in the group stage and another against Argentina in the quarter-final, and was only prevented from making it five shut-outs in a row by Eusébio, who thumped home a penalty for Portugal in the semi-final.Such was his unassailable position as the world’s top keeper that he was declared Fifa’s Goalkeeper of the Year not only in 1966, but in each of the next five years. Still an automatic choice for his country since his debut in 1963, Banks was involved in a head-on collision that resulted in the loss of sight in his right eye in 1972. He was forced into retirement but remarkably, five years later, he made a comeback overseas, playing for Fort Lauderdale Strikers. In 1977, at the age of 39 and despite the handicap of his impaired vision, Banks was voted the best goalkeeper playing in the United States soccer league.