Gordon Banks

Gordon Banks
Image from: freelargeimages.com

Gordon Banks





Current Club/Country: N/A.

Previous Clubs/Countries: Telford United.



Honours: N/A.





Moved into coaching with Port Vale, the cross-city rivals of his former club as a player, Stoke City. His spell there only lasted for a short period, as he felt the players were not listening to him and were not interested in his attempts to coach them.



Banks stepped into management at a low level for a World Cup winner, non-league Telford United in 1979 and involved himself in every single facet of the club. From selling tickets for the club's Silver Dollar lottery at a local supermarket to pushing over piles of pennies at pubs, whatever he could do for the club he did it.



He was coaching, scouting, doing administration tasks, all on top of the PR duties to try and bring in crowds to the Alliance Premier League part-timers. It gave him a chance to use all the coaching methods that he had created for himself in his playing career, when specialist goalkeeper coaches were not known in the English game.



The first season saw Telford finish just 13th, not the kind of result that was expected by bringing in a footballing legend like Gordon Banks, but he had a second chance to gain the promotion the Bucks craved. Unfortunately in November 1980 Banks took some time off to undergo surgery, leaving Jackie Mudie in charge for an FA Trophy match against a team from a lower league.



Telford lost and Banks was sacked on his return, being offered the position of raffle-ticket seller instead! With Telford owing him money, he took the post believing it would ensure he got the money he was due, but instead Banks ended up settling for just 50% of the money his contract entitled him to.



It was his first and last post in management. The way he was treated left Banks heartbroken and he walked away from involvement in coaching, Telford had driven arguably the greatest goalkeeper the game had ever seen out of day-to-day involvement in football.



Requested by c_matthews94