Money talks

Money talks.Arsenal, in the approach to the Double year, had been interested but were swayed by the form of Bob Wilson. Clough, when at Leeds, had wanted to buy Shilton but been sacked first. Manchester United, under Dave Sexton, had wanted to buy him but had been put off by his wages - and, maybe, by his rejection of Sir Matt Busby's offer of schoolboy terms at 14.Forest seemed no bigger than Stoke when Shilton joined They had just been promoted. They were instant champions - with Shilton as PFA Footballer of the Year - and followed up with successive European Cups.The title was clinched by arguably Shilton's greatest save, from Mike Ferguson of Coventry. The second European crown saw possibly his best match as Kevin Keegan and Hamburg were defied.Then, while still England goalkeeper, he made another apparently curious move, to Southampton. There was one bravura season, when Southampton finished second and reached the FA Cup semi-final, but the honours dried up.He moved on to Derby, where he was still reputed to be earning pounds 250,000 in his 40th year.

Derby were relegated and Shilton went to Plymouth as player-manager. One relegation was already in train and, after failing in the play-offs two seasons later, he was sacked as Argyle slid towards further demotion.By now the money problems were in the open. John McGovern, a former Forest team-mate, had walked out over an unpaid personal loan, the Argyle chairman, Dan McCauley, alleged he owed pounds 50,000 in back taxes, Martin Pipe, the racehorse trainer, sued over unpaid bills, and one of his houses was repossessed.There have also been marital problems and problems with the bottle - one distinguished former international recalled the aftermath of England's 1984 match in Paris. "Platini had scored from a free-kick and I think he blamed himself. The next day at the airport he was clearly not of this world. He was always a drinker, two to three days if he was badly upset by a defeat He took it personally. But two days later he would be training until he dropped."Shilton has since traipsed the clubs, coaching here, acting as goalkeeping cover there.

He did play twice, for Bolton, but, by a statistical quirk, only one game counts in the record books The other was in the play-offs. If that had counted, the game with Fulham would have been his 1,000th.After that match he said he was still adapting to the lower divisions. "At a higher level you can read things, here you have to react to situations more." The back-pass rule also appeared a problem Shilton added this week: "It is completely different now The pace of the game has changed It is a lot quicker from end to end. You can be attacking, two passes later the opposition are having a shot."Tomorrow's game will be his 1,384th first-class match. He clearly enjoyed last week's match but, as Wilson said: "He will always be regarded as one of the great goalkeepers. He shouldn't have to think where his next meal is coming from."Most English League appearances1 Peter Shilton 999 (1966-96)(286 Leicester City, 110 Stoke City, 202 Nottingham Forest, 188 Southampton, 175 Derby County, 34 Plymouth Argyle, 1 Bolton Wanderers, 3 Leyton Orient)2 Terry Paine 824 (1957-77)(713 Southampton, 111 Hereford United)3 Tommy Hutchison 795 (1968-91)(165 Blackpool, 314 Coventry City, 46 Manchester City, 92 Burnley, 178 Swansea City)4 Robbie James 782 (1972-93)(484 Swansea City, 48 Stoke City, 87 QPR, 23 Leicester, 89 Bradford City, 51 Cardiff)5 Alan Oakes 777 (1959-84)(565 Manchester City, 211 Chester City, 1 Port Vale).

There is something unique about the innocence of childhood and the naivete of early adolescence that provides you with a "taken for granted" view of the world. There were 92 teams in the Football League - and Workington were one of them. It was special - it gave you a sense of identity when trying to explain where you came from. If you were into football, it was natural to assume that all other sane humans were as well, so you said: "I'm from Workington, you know, Division Three" but more usually "Four." My relationship with the Reds started sometime in the 1957-58 season when, as a nine-year-old, I became aware that adults kicked a ball seriously and that the ground was quite near to my home. At that time I was neither aware of history, nor the scope of the game beyond my immediate reality.

The cost of such immaturity meant that I missed the famous FA Cup third-round tie in January 1958 when "we" were knocked out by the "Busby Babes" in one of the last games they played before Munich.As the 60s and adolescence arrived, history and context began to take a greater hold on our lives. Shankly had been our manager and we had missed it, but the stories sounded good when told by our elders. Then there had been Joe Harvey, who was allowed to leave to take over at Newcastle. We had drifted from the Third Division North to the Fourth Division, and I had become aware of the process of re-election. In that time I saw the demise of Gateshead, Accrington Stanley, Bradford Park Avenue and then, nearer to home, Barrow. Life was now not so simple, innocent or straightforward.In the summer of 1963 the club appointed a new player-manager, and there were a number of new signings.