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When Arsenal, West Ham, Liverpool And Manchester United Players Formed The Spine Of England Teams
Fabio Capello's call-up for five Manchester City stars recalls a by gone era
goal.com, Graham Lister - Oct 7, 2010 11:45:00 AM

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Fabio Capello’s assertion this week that a clutch of Manchester City players could form the nucleus of a successful England team not only underlined the new status of City in the panoply of English football; it also brought back into focus a time-honoured principle of international team building.

Players who train together every day and play together every matchday can, if they are good enough, generate a chemistry – a familiarity with a colleague’s game and anticipation of another’s runs and passes – that can bond a team and spur it to success.

Capello cited European and world champions Spain as a unit built predominantly around Barcelona players; and also noted the influence of Juventus players on Italy’s World Cup winning squad of 2006.

With City’s Joe Hart, Joleon Lescott, Gareth Barry, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Adam Johnson and James Milner available to him, it is not too fanciful to envisage Eastlands being a major source of supply as Capello strives to end his England tenure on a high by winning Euro 2012.

The last and only time the Three Lions won a major tournament they famously had three West Ham United club-mates in key positions. Captain and central defender Bobby Moore, goalscoring midfielder Martin Peters and hat-trick hero Geoff Hurst formed the spine of Alf Ramsey’s team.

Indeed, in London’s East End they still talk proudly of how the Hammers won the World Cup for England in 1966.

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There have been other times, too, when a particular club has exerted significant influence on the England team selection. The most notable occasion was in 1934 when England hosted Italy. The FA had declined to enter the two inaugural World Cups, so when the Italians arrived in London as reigning world champions there was a great deal of national pride riding on the outcome.

Arsenal were sweeping all before them on the domestic front, and reflecting this there were an unprecedented seven Gunners in England’s starting line-up: Frank Moss, George Male, Eddie Hapgood, Wilf Copping, Ray Bowden, Ted Drake and Cliff Bastin. For good measure, the game was played at the Arsenal Stadium and the trainer was Arsenal’s Tom Whittaker. He was kept fully occupied tending the walking wounded as England won the infamous ‘Battle of Highbury’ 3-2.

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By the 1950s the leading lights were Manchester United. The Busby Babes defied the hidebound Football League by entering the 1956-57 European Cup, and in the second leg of their preliminary round tie swamped Anderlecht 10-0.

The Belgians’ captain, Jef Mermans, observed afterwards that the best teams from Hungary had “never beaten us like this”, and asked: “Why don’t they pick the whole [United] side for England?”

In fact by 1956-57 full-back Roger Byrne, wing-half Duncan Edwards and centre-forward Tommy Taylor were automatic selections for England, while wingers Johnny Berry and David Pegg swelled the United contingent on occasion. Had it not been for the Munich disaster, it is safe to assume that Mark Jones and Eddie Colman would soon have joined Bobby Charlton in an England team that could well have been dominated by United players for years to come.

In the tragic event, only Charlton of that group had the chance to play for his country after the crash. Bobby won his first cap in England’s first match post-Munich.

His older brother Jack became an England international in 1965 as Leeds United rose to prominence, and by the late 1960s/early 1970s, a number of his club-mates had joined him in the England squad. Norman Hunter (whose England career peaked between 1965 and 1975), Terry Cooper (1968-72), Paul Reaney (1968-71), Allan Clarke (1969-76) and Paul Madeley (1970-77) gave the Three Lions a definite Leeds flavour.

But in the second half of the ‘70s Liverpool were ruling the roost domestically (and winning handsomely in Europe), and successive England squads reflected their success. Emlyn Hughes (1969-79 as a Liverpool player), Ray Clemence (1972-81), Kevin Keegan (1972-77), Phil Thompson (1976-83), Ray Kennedy (1976-80) and Terry McDermott (1978-82) formed an impressive cohort of Reds for England at this time.

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The success of Nottingham Forest, European champions in 1979 and 1980, was recognised by England coach Ron Greenwood in his regular selection of goalkeeper Peter Shilton, right-back Viv Anderson and strikers Tony Woodcock and Trevor Francis.

And both Greenwood and his successor, Bobby Robson, relied heavily on a trio of players from Robson’s former club Ipswich Town in the late 1970s/early ‘80s: left-back Mick Mills, centre-back Terry Butcher and striker Paul Mariner.

George Graham’s Arsenal side of the late ‘80s/early ‘90s provided a number of players, including David Seaman, Lee Dixon, Tony Adams, Michael Thomas, David Rocastle, Alan Smith, Paul Merson and Ian Wright.

By the mid-to-late 1990s Manchester United were again heavily represented in England squads as Alex Ferguson’s Red Devils largely dominated the Premier League. Between 1995 and 2004, Gary Neville and his brother Phil, Gary Pallister, David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes and Teddy Sheringham provided a solid spine to the squads of Terry Venables, Glenn Hoddle, Kevin Keegan and Sven Goran Eriksson.

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The obvious pattern in all this is that a strong correlation exists between a club’s success and recognition of its players at national level.

So Manchester City fans will be hoping that growing recognition of their club’s players en masse by England is a portent of silverware to come at Eastlands.

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