Scot KO for Andy
Shilton so proud of his national service
SKIPPER Andy Robertson has pulled out of Scotland’s Euro 2020 qualifying double-header.
The Liverpool left-back is out of Steve Clarke’s squad along with Bournemouth winger Ryan Fraser, Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay and Leeds defender Liam Cooper.
Scotland play in Cyprus on Saturday and host Kazakhstan next Tuesday.
■ Liverpool’s Mo Salah has withdrawn from the Egypt squad to face Kenya and Comoros after a scan on his ankle injury.
PETER SHILTON has played in a staggering one eighth of all of England’s internationals.
The country’s all-time record appearance holder won 125 caps during a glittering 20-year career for his country.
He will rightly be a guest of honour at Wembley for tomorrow’s 1,000th match celebrations and will be presented on the pitch at half-time.
“It’s quite a milestone for the FA,” said the 70-year-old.
“I had 20 years with England, that’s a long time, and obviously there was a period where Ray Clemence was looked upon, under Don Revie, as No.1, so I had a lot of trips as well as a lot of caps.
“It’s always been an honour to me, it was always my main ambition to play for England at whatever level I was at.
“When I was a schoolboy, it was for England Schoolboys, that was my main aim, and I managed to play at Wembley in front of 90,000 when I was 15.
“I was fortunate enough to have some luck with injuries but also to make my dreams come true and it’s always been a massive honour for me to play for England.”
Shilton, however, does feel that the FA and some clubs lost sight of the importance of former players but praised Gareth Southgate for raising the bar and putting the pride back into playing for your country.
The current England boss often gets past greats to make presentations to new caps in the dressing room and Shilton believes those sort of touches make all the difference.
He added: “That’s one of the good things that Gareth has done, he’s brought that standard back into it with the England squad.
“It’s just raising the standards and, as a manager, that is what you have to do at international level. It is the ultimate, playing for your country.
“I think it went out of the game a little bit, even at club level. I heard they wouldn’t give well-known former players complimentary tickets and they seemed to turn their back on history.
“But that’s started to come back and that goes for clubs as well. They seem to have realised that history is not a threat, it’s a vital part of the prestige of the club.”
Shilton picked out the 1990 World Cup in Italy as a highlight but does not hold back from his disappointments.
He added: “My favourite memory would be Italia ’90 because we did get to the semis, we were so close in the end. It was the luck of the shoot-out.
“I was 40, I thought I’d had a good tournament, particularly in the quarter-final and semifinal games.
“I suppose one of the biggest disappointments for me was when we drew 1-1 at Wembley with Poland, the Tomaszewski game, and we failed to qualify (for the 1974 World Cup) under Alf Ramsey. It resulted in him getting the sack.
“It was such a low point for me because I wanted to play in the World Cup so much and I had a part in the goal with Norman Hunter where we both didn’t distinguish ourselves.”