Peter Shilton’s is a decorated career that encompasses over 1,000 league games for 11 different English Clubs across the First, Second and Third Divisions, but it was his early transfer to Stoke City which caught the eye.

In November 1974, the Potters completed a record-breaking move for the then-25-year-old, who became the world’s most expensive goalkeeper. First Division outfit Stoke had paid out the highest-ever fee for a stopper for a sum believed to be somewhere in the region of £350,000, beating off rival teams in the process to secure his signature.

For Shilton, it was move of his career and one which took him away from his hometown team Leicester City where he had progressed through the ranks from the age of 15 as an apprentice, making his first-team debut a year later, while becoming the youngest player to represent the Foxes.

In Staffordshire, he was reunited with former teammate Gordon Banks. England’s 1966 World Cup-winning keeper had allowed Shilton the opportunity to break through at Leicester in his late teens after the late Banks completed the switch to the Potters. The pair worked together at Stoke, with the man Shilton hailed as his hero serving as a coach with the Club.

At the time of his signing, Stoke occupied sixth place in the top tier at the halfway point of the 1974/75 campaign and boss Tony Waddington was confident that Shilton’s abilities could boost his side up the table, insisting that the gloveman would “give the defence that extra confidence to clinch the championship.”

Potters fans got a glimpse of their new recruit when he made his “dream” bow at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers. The game ended in a 2-2 draw as the two teams shared the spoils but Shilton earned all the plaudits, with one headline in the Sentinel – the daily regional newspaper – reading “Shilton was out of this world.”

A week later, Waddington’s wishes came true, as Stoke sat pretty at the summit of the Division One. In the end, the Potters were pipped to the title but it was an impressive debut season for Shilton, whose time at the Victoria Ground came to an end in 1977 when he was sold to Nottingham Forest.