Peter Shilton

The Season Ahead...

Vauxhall's Big Pitch game proved to be a Big Hit with the England fans.

The England Team Sponsors Vauxhall hosted the chance for England fans to fulfil their field of dreams and play on the hallowed turf of Wembley Stadium.
Following in the footsteps of Bobby Charlton, David Beckham and Wayne Rooney 32 lucky England supporters had the chance to run out of the tunnel at the famous venue and take part in the game of their life.
The two teams, who were managed by Peter Shilton and Luther Blissett and captained by Rob Lee and Ray Parlour, enjoyed a fantastic game officiated by World Cup final referee Howard Webb.

Winners were picked from a number of media competitions as well as Vauxhall’s dedicated Home Nations football Facebook page.
The game was organised as part of Vauxhall's sponsorship of the FA.
Follow Vauxhall’s sponsorship of Home Nations football head to www.facebook.com/vauxhallfootball

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Who do you think will win the Premier League this year?
I think it’ll be reasonably open, but if you’re putting me on the spot I’d say Chelsea at the moment. They’ve got a strong spine to the team. Last season they had a lot of problems both on and off the pitch - if they eradicate them this time around then I think they will take some beating.

If you could pick two strikers for your team who would you pick? Why?
That’s a difficult one to be fair, I can’t pronounce half the foreign names!

If you could pick one captain for your side, who would it be?
John Terry has great leadership qualities, it would have to be him.

Who has been the best transfer of the summer in your opinion and why?
Ashley Young will do na good job at Man Utd, he’ll fit into their style of play. It’s difficult to compare Giggsy to anybody, but he’ll probably play that sort of role for Utd. He’ll provide that bit of versatility, a bit of dribbling skill and that extra dimension that could prove the difference.

Who is the best goalkeeper in the Premier League?
Petr Cech takes some beating at the end of the day.

Will England qualify for the Euros?
Yes, I sincerely hope so. It’ll be a catastrophe if we don’t. I think we will. We had a blip against Switzerland at the end of our season. We weren’t quite switched on and we had some injury problems, and ended up giving them a two-goal start and got a result. On their day though, our strongest team should be more than capable of qualifying.

Are we good enough to win it?
Yeah, we’ve got some good young players. I like Andy Carroll up front. He’s got a lot to learn but I like someone strong up front who’s good in the air. It gives you a good dimension against the more footballing teams. If we can’t “out football” teams “ then he provides a brilliant alternative route to goal.

Who are your first three on the team sheet?
Paul Hart [Joe Hart], John Terry and Wayne Rooney.

What do you think of the new Wembley?
It’s tremendous, the facilities are different class. They’ve done a really god job with it. The main difference is the tunnel. Some teams used to be very fearful of Wembley. You’d stand in that tunnel, which was a cold place where you couldn’t see the stadium, then you’d come out to the roar, which could be quite intimidating. It’s not quite like that now, so we given away a bit of an advantage.

Who was the best player you ever played with? And against?
Bobby Moore for many reasons. And Maradona, unfortunately. I don’t like to say that, but he was.