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Part one of an EXCLUSIVE Q&A with England’s most capped player, Peter Shilton

An inductee in the English Football Hall of Fame, capped 125 times by the national side, named in the PFA Team of the Year 10 times, winner of the Football League, European Cup, European Super Cup, and more, Peter Shilton is, by many standards, England’s greatest ever goalkeeper.

Part two of this exclusive talk with Yahoo Sport UK & Ireland is published tomorrow, Saturday 10th October.

1) Who’s the best England goalkeeper since your retirement?

That’s a tough question. After I finished in 1990, I thought and hoped Chris Woods would go on to have a long and successful career for England, so it surprised me that it didn’t work out for him under Graham Taylor. David Seaman was the beneficiary and, in terms of longevity and achievements, I have to say he’s been our best keeper since my time.

He reached the semi-final at Euro 96 and was terrific in the quarter-final shoot-out against Spain but, like me, he learnt pretty quickly that it’s never easy against the technique and mentality of the Germans in a shoot-out situation. I faced four against them and David had six but, unfortunately, neither of us had any luck.

2) In terms of playing, is it easier or harder to be a keeper now than during your career?

I don’t think there’s a great deal of difference, if I’m honest. The basics – stopping shots, claiming crosses, making good decisions, organising your defence and having a good technique – haven’t changed, but the game is quicker and lighter balls move unpredictably. The pitches are better now and they’ve grown up with the back pass rule, whereas we had to adjust. Keepers get more protection from the ref today, though, which would have been nice in my day.

I remember playing Newcastle during my very earliest days at Leicester. I was 17 or so and they had a big striker called Wyn Davies who they’d target with crosses from deep early doors. Of course, the real target was me and he knocked me about a bit, just to let me know I wasn’t going to have it easy in my own box. I completely understand why they tried to unnerve me, but it simply wouldn’t be allowed to happen nowadays.

3) What’s the single most important skill a great keeper needs?

Good positional sense has to top my list. If you have it, the job’s a lot easier and most other things follow on as a result. Having a good technique is very important as well, because if you fail to get your body and feet set in the right place, you’re always going to struggle. The goal is a big, old thing to cover, so you need to know where you are and the choices faced by the striker.

4) Do you have any regrets about your career or is there anything you’d now do differently?

It never affected me when I was playing, but I didn’t manage to win the FA Cup, despite a few semi-finals. It would perhaps have been nice to play for a few years at one of the biggest clubs in the country, like Liverpool, Man United or Arsenal, but I can’t complain about what I achieved and the experiences I had.

I would never change my career, as I have so many great memories, and I like to think I did well at every club I represented, but it’s a shame I didn’t enjoy more success as a manager. I’m particularly proud I was able to play for England at all levels, going up from the Under 15s right through to my full England debut against East Germany in 1970, while still at my hometown club, Leicester City.

5) If you were playing today, how big a transfer fee do you think you’d command?

Now, I’ve always thought keepers have been traditionally undervalued despite having the second most difficult job, behind goal-scoring, on the pitch. I think keeper valuations are creeping up a little these days, but Gianluigi Buffon’s big money move to Juventus was the exception – 14 years later, he’s still the most expensive.

When Leicester sold me to Stoke City in 1974, the figure was £350,000 and pretty close to a world record at the time. Times have changed but, if you adjusted that for the obvious inflation in transfer fees, it’d be a hell of a lot.

6) Who is the best player and goalkeeper in the Premier League today?

It’s very difficult to single out one particular player, as there are so many terrific talents on display, and all with different strengths, but I have a lot of respect for proper goalscorers and, at the moment, for me Sergio Aguero is right up there. He’s an out-and-out goalscorer, a surgical finisher and almost guarantees you 30 goals a season, if he’s fit – that’s his biggest vulnerability.

I won’t pick out an individual goalkeeper as the best, but I have to give an honourable mention to Tim Howard. He was unfortunate in his time at Man United, but has done well out of his switch to Everton. He’s worked hard and improved his technique and I definitely think he benefited from working with Chris Woods as his goalkeeping coach at Everton and the American national team. I’ve got a lot of respect for both of them.

7) Do you prefer the old or new Wembley?

Obviously, I’ve not played at the new stadium, but I’ve been on the pitch before games a few times now and it’s an incredible venue. You can’t helped but be impressed by what they’ve done but, for me, it lacks the atmosphere of the old stadium. With those terrific old terraces, it was a real cauldron and I’ve got some great memories of walking out of the tunnel there and being met by an enormous roar as I took the long walk across the pitch. That long walk definitely phased out some of my international opponents as it was intimidating and gave them a lot of time to think. The new stadium doesn’t instill the same fear factor.

Part 2 is published tomorrow, where Peter talks about what he thinks of the current England side versus the ones he played in, the last conversation he had with Brian Clough, and lots more.

Peter Shilton OBE is available for speaking through Champions after dinner speakers or contacting Amelia Neate aneate@championsukplc.com