Hundreds gathered at the bet365 Stadium to pay tribute to 1966 World Cup winner Gordon Banks ahead of his funeral on Monday.
The former England goalkeeper died, aged 81, on February 12 and is to be laid to rest following a service at Stoke Minster this afternoon.
A five-car funeral cortege passed through Stoke’s stadium, stopping at the pitchside dugout for a few minutes, to sustained applause from the assembled crowd.
The various achievements of Banks, who also won the League Cup with Stoke and Leicester, were displayed on the big screen as a chant of “England’s number one” broke out.
Sheffield-born Banks made nearly 200 appearances for Stoke and, such was his standing, he was named the club’s president following the death of Sir Stanley Matthews at the turn of the century.
The statue erected in Banks’ honour, holding the Jules Rimet trophy aloft, was decorated with several Stoke and England scarves.
The ground was adorned with shirts, flags and even the odd pair of goalkeeping gloves in tribute to one of the city’s favourite adopted sons.
Jack Butland, Joe Anyon and Kasper Schmeichel – the current number ones at the three English clubs Banks played for: Stoke, Chesterfield and Leicester – as well as England stalwart Joe Hart served as pallbearers.
On the 47th anniversary of Stoke’s League Cup triumph, Banks’ funeral started with a rendition of Abide with Me – a hymn synonymous with the FA Cup final.
Sir Geoff Hurst was among the attendees and delivered a moving eulogy in which he referred to his World Cup-winning team-mate as “a superstar on the field, (but) off the field he was an ordinary guy with no airs or graces.”
He added: “He was a joker, a funny man, for over 50 years and every time we met during our careers or years after he would come up and joke.
“Banksy, rest in peace. We love you and we miss you.”
Hurst started his eulogy by jokingly referencing his penalty that was saved by Banks in the League Cup semi-final between Stoke and West Ham, who were beaten after a replay.
Hurst said: “Gordon Banks OBE contributed to the worst moment of my footballing career.
“We often joke privately and publicly about the save from Pele (in the 1970 World Cup) but the most important save was the one that got them through (in the League Cup).
“The save against Pele wasn’t as important – we lost the game and we still qualified for the later stages of the World Cup.”
