English football mourns the loss of Peter Bonetti. The former Three Lions goalkeeper died on Easter Sunday at the age of 78 after a long, serious illness, according to his long-time Chelsea FC club. Chelsea called Bonetti “one of the greatest players in club history” and expressed “deep sympathy and condolences” to the relatives.
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In addition to Chelsea, numerous English football greats and other clubs condensed on Twitter. For example, Gary Lineker wrote: “He was a gorgeous goalkeeper for so many years. I met him as the goalkeeper coach of the national team, he was a decent guy.” Manchester City and the English football association also condoled “The Cat”, as Bonetti was called during active times.
Bonetti played a total of 729 games for Chelsea between 1959 and 1979, which was a record at the time. In 208 matches, he remained without conceding a goal – that was also a club record until a new club legend overtook him in 2014 with Petr Cech. With the club Bonetti won at the national level among others the FA Cup 1970 and internationally the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1971. He also played a year for the St. Louis Stars in North America and at the end of his three decades long career in 1979 played some games for Dundee United in Scotland. He then worked as a postman before returning to Chelsea goalkeeping coach and later to the England team.
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In Germany, Bonetti gained fame mainly because of the quarter-final game at the World Cup in Mexico: at that time he came in as a replacement for the sick regular keeper Gordon Banks – and lost after a 2-0 lead for England through a goal from Franz Beckenbauer (68.) , Uwe Seeler (82nd) and Gerd Müller (108th) with 2: 3. This seventh international was also the last for Bonetti – and the only one at a World Cup.
At the 1966 World Cup in England, he had also previously been part of the English squad. Because Bonetti was not used at the time, he initially did not receive a gold medal after winning the title of the Three Lions. It was only presented to him in 2009 after a petition from the FIFA World Association.
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