312 England Internationals

First  viewed  : 16  November  1977

This  is  where  my  interest  in  football  finally  blossomed , watching  England's  World  Cup  Qualifier   at  home  to  Italy  in  November  1977.  Though  my  interest  in  football  away  from  Rochdale  FC  has  ebbed  and  flowed  over  the  years,  I've  always  known  who's  gone  up  or  down  in  the  domestic  divisions  and  who  the  top  players  are  from  this  point  on


England  won 2-0 with  goals  from  Kevin  Keegan  and  Trevor  Brooking  but  it  was  a  pyrrhic  victory  as  Italy  only  had  the  formality  of  beating  Luxembourg  in  their  final  match  to  go  through. England's  earlier  failure. Don  Revie's  incessant  tinkering  and  then  Ron  Greenwood's  conservatism  had  meant  that  England  had  failed  to  match  Italy's  convincing  scorelines  against  Finland  and  Luxembourg in  earlier  games  and  so  they  were  out  of  their  second  successive  World  Cup  Finals.

Despite  this  background  it  was  a  encouraging  performance. Stung  by  criticism   for  playing  five  Liverpool  players  including  35-year  old  Ian  Callaghan  in  his  previous  game  against  Luxembourg , Greenwood  handed  out  new  caps  to  Everton  striker  Bob  Latchford   and  the  two  Manchester  wingers  , United's  Steve  Coppell  and  City's  Peter  Barnes. I  can  still  tell  you  the  team  without  looking  it  up - G : Ray  Clemence  ( Liverpool )  D:  Phil  Neal  ( Liverpool ) , Trevor  Cherry ( Leeds) , Dave  Watson ( Man  City), Emlyn  Hughes  ( Liverpool )  M: Ray  Wilkins  ( Chelsea ) ,  Brooking ( West  Ham ), Barnes, Coppell   F : Latchford, Keegan  ( SV Hamburg ) . I'd  never  actually  heard  of  Cherry, Wilkins  or  Brooking  before  that  night.

The  scorers  , Keegan  and  Brooking,  would  become  the  cornerstones  of   England  during  the  Greenwood  era,  rescuing  the  next  World  Cup  qualifying  campaign  against  Hungary  in  1981  and  they  were  badly  missed  when  they  picked  up  injuries  before  the  Finals  in  1982. The  other  encouraging  sign  was  the  performance  of  Peter  Barnes  who  went  on  some  thrilling  runs  despite  Italy's  man-marking  system.

Barnes  became  my  favourite  England  player  as  I  had  a  real  soft  spot  for  City   but  Greenwood  failed  to  stick  with  him  as  we  went  into  the  eighties  and  I  was  never  as  enthusiastic  about  the  England  team  after  that  as  mundane  players  from  teams  I  hated  such  as  Arsenal, Ipswich  and  then  Watford  got  the  nod  instead. Then  Ipswich's  manager  got  the  job  and  started  picking  Barnes  although  it  was  Watford's  John  instead.  By  the  late  eighties  I  was  supporting  Eire  instead.

Now  I  realise  that  Barnes  was  something  of  his  own  worst  enemy, a  lazy  player  who  didn't  want  to  fully  develop  his  game  and  gradually  became  less  effective  as  the  years  went  by. His  refusal  to  track  back  made  him  unpopular  with  other  players  and  it  has  been  suggested  that  Greenwood  bowed  to  player  pressure  from  the  other  England  players  in  removing  him  from  the  team. He  also  made  a  bad  move  to  Leeds  in  1981  who  played  him  as  a  striker  and  were  relegated  at  the  end  of  that  season. He  briefly  returned  to  the  top  flight  with  Ron  Atkinson's  Manchester  United  but  he  was  one  of  the  first  players  unloaded  by  Alex  Ferguson  and  he  quickly  dropped  through  the  leagues  after  that , ending up  at  non-league  Mossley  FC.

Outside  of  World  Cup  and  European  Championship  Finals  it's  hit  and  miss   whether  I  bother  to  watch  England  games. The  last  one  I  remember  watching  was  the  game  (  in  a  pub  where  my  pop  quiz  team  was  playing  )  was  the  game  against  Sweden  where  Ivanisovic  capped  his  four  goal  performance with  that  astounding  overhead  volley   from  thirty  yards  out.