WORK HARD AND BE BRAVE, BANKS TOLD YOUNG KEEPER

HEARTFELT advice given by Gordon Banks to an aspiring young goalkeeper has been published following the World Cup winner’s death. Banks told Lucas Marlow to be brave and take up table tennis to help him become a better goalkeeper. Lucas’s dad Lee was working as a journalist at the Leicester Mercury when he interviewed Banks and told him his eight-year-old son wanted to play in goal. Lee transcribed the advice into a letter (right). Lucas, now 15, has kept it on his bedroom wall ever since. He plays for Whitwick Under 16s in a small village in north-west Leicestershire and admits he did not know much about Banks at the time. ‘I knew the name,’ said Lucas, ‘but that night I sat with my dad and we watched clips, including that brilliant save from Pele at the 1970 World Cup. That save didn’t seem possible. ‘From that moment on, he became special to me. I’ll always keep the letter. It was a lovely thing for him to do and I did appreciate it. ‘The bit at the end — about dusting yourself down, keeping your head up and being brave — it’s hard to do that when you’ve let in a soft goal. I struggled with that at first. ‘But that’s brilliant advice and I try to remember it. I still use that today.’