Euro 2016: Joe Hart can recover from his Iceland disaster - but Jack Butland is England's future, says Gordon Banks

Exclusive: World Cup winner Banks has backed Hart to get back on track after a summer to forget, but believes Stoke goalkeeper Butland can step in if needed

Samuel Stevens
Thursday 07 July 2016 10:18 EDT
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Jack Butland appears dejected after sustaining an ankle injury against Germany
Jack Butland appears dejected after sustaining an ankle injury against Germany (Getty)

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Gordon Banks has backed Joe Hart to recover from a disastrous Euro 2016 campaign – but believes Jack Butland is ready to step into the breach if his England form continues to slide.

Hart, 29, suffered two calamities as England crashed out of the tournament in France. The Manchester City stopper allowed a Gareth Bale free-kick to squeeze past him during the Group B victory against Wales before later being embarrassed by a tame Kolbeinn Sigþórsson shot in the second-round defeat by Iceland.

“He has to push that to one side,” said 78-year-old Banks, who lifted the World Cup with England in 1966. “It’s gone. So he needs to concentrate on starting a new season, get himself working hard and back to his normal form.”

Butland, who is following in Banks’ footsteps at Stoke City, made his debut for England in 2012 but has made just four appearances under out-going manager Roy Hodgson since.

The 23-year-old Birmingham City academy product was in stellar form last season as Stoke narrowly missed out on qualification for the Europa League under Mark Hughes.

“I’m convinced he will be England’s next goalkeeper,” Banks added. “He works so hard in training and has tremendous positional play, better than anyone of his age which I’ve seen. He was very unlucky to get injured [before Euro 2016] but he’s a brilliant goalkeeper.”

Pressed on what England must change ahead of the qualifying campaign for the 2018 World Cup, as the postmortems begin in earnest, the legendary former Stoke and Leicester City goalkeeper urged caution.

He added: “They should stick with the same team, let them get used to each other. That’s what Alf [Ramsey] used to do. I think the style has got to change. We’ve got to change our style of play. It’s a lot of the boring stuff we see in the Premier League, going across and going back, and it gets really boring.

Gordon Banks was at Wembley this week to sample the new stadium tour
Gordon Banks was at Wembley this week to sample the new stadium tour (EE)

“I just don’t think that’s good enough for international football. They should get films of [Premier League champions] Leicester City and show these to the team. Then get out on the training ground and coach them how to play that way.”

Gordon Banks is supporting the new-look Wembley Tour, connected by EE - the world’s most technologically advanced stadium tour in the world - which launches at Wembley Stadium on Monday 18th July. Head to www.wembleystadium.com/tour for more information or to book tickets.

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