Peter Leslie Shilton was born in Leicester in 1949.
Turning professional in 1966 at his home town club, Leicester City, it would be only two seasons before he made the first of his record-breaking 125 England appearances. He was a Second Division goalkeeper at the time, making this progression all the more remarkable.
His talents soon earned attention from the First Division, but it would be a full eight seasons and 286 games later that he would make his move to Stoke City for £325,000, which was a world record for a goalkeeper at the time. Just two seasons later he would turn down a move to Manchester United on a £275,000 move, but that deal collapsed due to th player's wage demands.
In 1977 he moved to Nottingham Forest, a club riding high under the management of Brian Clough. They won the League Cup in a replay after initially drawing with Liverpool at Wembley, though Shilton missed that as he was cup-tied, and then won the League title in their first season back in the First Division. Imagine that happening these days! Shilton conceded just 18 goals in 37 league appearances, and subsequently won the PFA Player of the Year award.
Shilton won the League Cup again in 1979, whilst also reaching the European Cup final where a Trevor Francis goal was enough to beat Swedish side Malmö in Munich. Success continued with the club reaching a third consecutive League Cup final the next season. Forest then reached the European Cup final again in 1980 - as holders they were entitled to defend the trophy and faced SV Hamburg in Madrid. Like the 1979 final, the game was tight and one goal settled it from Forest winger John Robertson.
Problems in his personal life, namely a gambling addiction and a drink-driving conviction saw Shilton's form decline, and he was sold to Southampton in 1982 following over 200 appearances for Nottingham Forest.
He would make a further 188 appearances for that club, before leaving in 1987 to join Forest's rivals Derby County. During his time at Derby, Shilton broke Bobby Moore's record of 108 appearances for his country in a friendly against Denmark in Copenhagen. He helped the Derby side of Mark Wright, Dean Saunders and Ted McMinn finish fifth in the league, and they only missed out on competing in the UEFA Cup due to the ban on English clubs in European competition.
He retired from England duty following the 1990 World Cup, during which he made his 125th appearance for his country. His final appearance came just four months before the 20th anniversary of his international debut, making his full international career one of the longest on record.
In 1991, Derby were relegated and Shilton started to consider his playing future. He was in his 42nd year and was ready to become a coach or manager. In early 1991, he had rejected an offer to replace Stan Ternent as Hull City boss.
He finally left Derby in February 1992 on accepting an offer to become player-manager of Plymouth Argyle. The following February, with Plymouth heading for relegation, he left the club and announced his intention to start playing again at the age of 46.
Stuck on 996 Football League appearances, Shilton joined Wimbledon in the Premier League, as cover for the first choice keeper Hans Segers, but did not play a first team game for them. He subsequently signed for the mighty Bolton Wanderers, making a sole appearance in the 1995 Division One Play-Off semi final vs Wolves at Molineux.
He then signed for Coventry City, where he failed to make a first-team appearance, before joining West Ham United, where again he never played a first-team game, although he was selected as a substitute on several occasions. Moving on again, Shilton joined Leyton Orient in November 1996, in an exchange deal for 39-year-old Les Sealey. His thousandth League game came on 22 December 1996, against Brighton & Hove Albion, which was screened live on Sky Sports and was preceded by the presentation from the Football League of a special edition of the Guinness Book of Records to Shilton.
He played five more matches before retiring on 1005 league games at the age of 47 at the end of the 1996-97 season. By the time of his retirement, he was the fifth oldest player ever to have played in the Football League or Premier League.
Honours
Club
Leicester City
Nottingham Forest
- First Division:1977-78
- First Division runners-up:1978-79
- League Cup:1978-79
- FA Charity Shield:1978
- European Cup:1978-79,1979-80
- European Super Cup:1979
Southampton
- Trofeo Ciudad de Vigo: 1983
- First Division runners-up:1983-84
International
England
- FIFA World Cup 4th place:1990
- Rous Cup winners: 1986, 1988, 1989
- Rous Cup runners-up: 1985, 1987
- 1985 Azteca 2000 Tournament runners-up
Individual honours[edit]
- PFA Players' Player of the Year: 1978
- English Football Hall of Fame: Inducted 2002
Season |
Club |
League |
Other |
Total |
||||||||
Division |
Apps |
Goals |
Apps |
Goals |
Apps |
Goals |
Apps |
Goals |
Apps |
Goals |
||
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
|||
First Division |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
||
First Division |
35 |
1 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
39 |
1 |
||
First Division |
42 |
0 |
8 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
53 |
0 |
||
39 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
51 |
0 |
|||
Second Division |
40 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
50 |
0 |
||
37 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
42 |
0 |
|||
First Division |
41 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
47 |
0 |
||
First Division |
42 |
0 |
7 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
55 |
0 |
||
First Division |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
0 |
||
Total |
286 |
1 |
33 |
0 |
20 |
0 |
9 |
0 |
348 |
1 |
||
First Division |
25 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
26 |
0 |
||
First Division |
42 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
48 |
0 |
||
First Division |
40 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
43 |
0 |
||
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
|||
Total |
110 |
0 |
7 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
121 |
0 |
||
First Division |
37 |
0 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
43 |
0 |
||
First Division |
42 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
8 |
0 |
10 |
0 |
63 |
0 |
||
First Division |
42 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
10 |
0 |
11 |
0 |
65 |
0 |
||
First Division |
40 |
0 |
6 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
54 |
0 |
||
First Division |
41 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
47 |
0 |
||
Total |
202 |
0 |
18 |
0 |
26 |
0 |
26 |
0 |
272 |
0 |
||
First Division |
39 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
47 |
0 |
||
First Division |
42 |
0 |
6 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
50 |
0 |
||
First Division |
41 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
7 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
53 |
0 |
||
First Division |
37 |
0 |
6 |
0 |
6 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
52 |
0 |
||
First Division |
29 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
8 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
40 |
0 |
||
Total |
188 |
0 |
17 |
0 |
28 |
0 |
9 |
0 |
242 |
0 |
||
40 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
45 |
0 |
|||
First Division |
38 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
47 |
0 |
||
First Division |
35 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
44 |
0 |
||
First Division |
31 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
38 |
0 |
||
Second Division |
31 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
37 |
0 |
||
Total |
175 |
0 |
10 |
0 |
18 |
0 |
8 |
0 |
211 |
0 |
||
7 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
0 |
|||
Second Division |
23 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
6 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
32 |
0 |
||
Second Division |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
||
Total |
34 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
6 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
43 |
0 |
||
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|||
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
|||
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|||
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|||
9 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
10 |
0 |
|||
Career Total |
1005 |
1 |
87 |
0 |
102 |
0 |
55 |
0 |
1249 |
1 |