1966–67 Stoke City F.C. season within the next twelve months. In the summer of 1966 Waddington secured the services of former Newcastle United winger George Eastham from Arsenal for £35,000. The other was goalkeeper Gordon Banks who was snapped up for a bargain £52,000 from Leicester City in April 1967. Matt Gillies, the Leicester manager was coming under considerable pressure to play his young reserve Peter Shilton and decided to sell the 29-year-old Banks to Stoke. It is widely considered that this was a 'steal' as Banks carried on to play for England for another five years. Banks left English football in 1972 and ironically
Peter Shilton Clemence was called up to make his debut a month later for England's opening qualifier for the 1974 World Cup, (a 1–0 win over Wales). Shilton ended up with over 100 caps compared to Clemence's 61. In the summer of 1973, Shilton kept three clean sheets as England defeated Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland. Against Scotland, Shilton made a right handed save diving to his left from Kenny Dalglish's shot that Shilton considered among his best saves. While drawing with Czechoslovakia earned Shilton his tenth cap – as a warm-up to a crucial World Cup qualifier against Poland in Chorzów