Len badger/ England.

[Jonboy60]

One of my old time favourites.?

 

[Rufus Smalls]

Woody surely ?????

 

[Jonboy60]

Forgot him rufus, yes he definitely should be in there.

 

[Boxer Blade]

Didn't they say that about Joe Shaw in the 50/60's?

 

[SouthEssexBlade]

Badger played at U23 level I think, but never got a full cap. The bigger mystery at the time was Woody, looking at that team, no disrespect to Pop Robson, but Woody was much better.

 

[Jonboy60]

I'm sure one of the greenhoffs played for England. Brian/ jimmy.

 

[Eddiecolquhounsleg]

I expect Ron "chopper" Harris never played for England for obvious reasons!! However, some of the names on this list do surprise me. David Webb, Billy Bonds and George Armstrong in particular. They played for top London clubs (Ok West Ham is bit of a stretch) so they must have been on the FA radar for that reason alone. Remarkable.

 

[Silent Blade]

Badger played at U23 level I think, but never got a full cap. The bigger mystery at the time was Woody, looking at that team, no disrespect to Pop Robson, but Woody was much better.

Ramsey didn't play wingers much

 

[coaxingstar71]

Kevin Hector got 2 full England caps, however the article looks to be from March 1973 and Hector made his debut in the ill fated Poland world cup qualifier in October.

 

[coaxingstar71]

I'm sure one of the greenhoffs played for England. Brian/ jimmy.

Brian Greenhoff got 18 England caps, but the first was in 1976, 3 years after the article was published.

 

[Silent Blade]

Brian Greenhoff got 18 England caps, but the first was in 1976, 3 years after the article was published.

You got the wrong Greenhoff. Jimmy, not Brian is in the OP

 

[LSF]

I'm sure one of the greenhoffs played for England. Brian/ jimmy.

Played against Brian Greenhoff, he was in the Barnsley Boys U15's team 1968 circa, I was playing for Sheffield Boys.
His reputation preceded him as the younger brother of Jimmy, then of Leeds fame.
Before the game our manager, Tom Kelly, who taught at St. Paul's ( All Saints these days), instructed one of our half backs to "soften" him early doors..
One of the finest "fair" tackles I've seen to this day did the trick, Greenhoff junior hobbled off, the ref waved play on...
When men were men eh....

 

[LSF]

Badger played at U23 level I think, but never got a full cap. The bigger mystery at the time was Woody, looking at that team, no disrespect to Pop Robson, but Woody was much better.

I'd hazard an opinion that Woody and Pop Robson were an unlikely comparison.
Woody being generally an out and out winger until the latter stages of his United career, Robson usually an out and out striker and the little part of a little and large partnership popular back in the day.

 

[Shalalalafenoughty]

Played against Brian Greenhoff, he was in the Barnsley Boys U15's team 1968 circa, I was playing for Sheffield Boys.
His reputation preceded him as the younger brother of Jimmy, then of Leeds fame.
Before the game our manager, Tom Kelly, who taught at St. Paul's ( All Saints these days), instructed one of our half backs to "soften" him early doors..

I never knew that about Tom Kelly - that he'd managed Sheffield Boys. I went to St Paul's between 1969 and 1971 and he was Deputy Head at the time. He was a nice guy. Walked with quite a pronounced limp, as I recall. My dad knew him quite well - I think they'd played football together at some point.

Len Badger was a fine player and was certainly talked about in his early days as a potential England player although for me he was at his absolute peak in the promotion run-in in 1971. He was the best player on the pitch in the opinion of my Wednesday-supporting mate in the Easter Monday derby at Hillsborough. But I never really felt a burning sense of injustice that he wasn't selected as a full international and the same applied to Woody, much as I loved them both. Currie, on the other hand, was obviously international class.

 

[DaveBassettsgoneonholiday]

Slightly off topic but.... I watched a programme recently about "maverick" footballers and TC,Frank Worthington, Stan Bowles,Charlie George and Alan Hudson collectively earned less caps for England than Emile Heskey

 

[BushBlade]

Slightly off topic but.... I watched a programme recently about "maverick" footballers and TC,Frank Worthington, Stan Bowles,Charlie George and Alan Hudson collectively earned less caps for England than Emile Heskey

England was a shambles post Ramsay and they didn't even have foreigners or the PL to blame.

 

[Cerberus Blade]

Ramsey didn't play wingers much

Is that why they called them “Alf’s wingless wonders” maybe?

Yes I agree btw. Ramsey started the decline of the winger. He ruined English football trying to copy these continentals and we’ve won bugger all since.

Bring em back!

Let’s go back to the old “W” formation that worked.

Whisper it, but this is what Sheff Utd are doing secretly.

 

[LSF]

I never knew that about Tom Kelly - that he'd managed Sheffield Boys. I went to St Paul's between 1969 and 1971 and he was Deputy Head at the time. He was a nice guy. Walked with quite a pronounced limp, as I recall. My dad knew him quite well - I think they'd played football together at some point..

Tom managed Sheffield Boys through most of 60's but I think he packed in a year or two after my time with Sheffield Boys.
I knew him before this as my elder brother played cricket with him for years and I used to score for them as a kid.
He had a reputation as a hard man as a player apparently and certainly our game was based on aggression and strength. He did have a pronounced limp, an old football injury he used to tell us..
Think he lived to a ripe age somewhere near Beaver hill school.
A real character.

 

[LSF]

Is that why they called them “Alf’s wingless wonders” maybe?

Yes I agree btw. Ramsey started the decline of the winger. He ruined English football trying to copy these continentals and we’ve won bugger all since.

Bring em back!

Let’s go back to the old “W” formation that worked.

Whisper it, but this is what Sheff Utd are doing secretly.

Ramsey was years ahead of his time during the sixties but was too loyal to some players who were way past their best.

 

[BerksBlade]

Keith Weller played for England after the article as well. Never understood how Len & Woody missed out when you look at some who got picked. Alan Hinton for example - Woody was miles better.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

One of the finest "fair" tackles I've seen to this day did the trick, Greenhoff junior hobbled off, the ref waved play on...
When men were men eh....

Greenhoff junior hobbled off?

We're now competing to get in the WWE DivingConningFeigningInjury League?

Some fuckin prize.

 

[8lade]

Slightly off topic but.... I watched a programme recently about "maverick" footballers and TC,Frank Worthington, Stan Bowles,Charlie George and Alan Hudson collectively earned less caps for England than Emile Heskey

That made me blurt out one of those over loud pseudo-laughs. It just seems ridiculous and made me wonder is this shit still occurring?

 

[Jonboy60]

Slightly off topic but.... I watched a programme recently about "maverick" footballers and TC,Frank Worthington, Stan Bowles,Charlie George and Alan Hudson collectively earned less caps for England than Emile Heskey

Emile heskey, also known as "power and pace". The commentators would recite this every game he played in. Would boil my piss.
I used to think Liverpool/ England, what a donkey.

 

[BusheyBlade]

When I was on my gap year I spent some time working in a school in Israel. I got talking to one of the teachers who was from Manchester and when he found out I was a United fan told my that growing up he was quite a promising footballer and when he was in his late teens he was playing an inter-schools match against a school from Sheffield. He was playing on the wing and had his leg broken in an unfortunate collision with the opposing full back...a certain Len Badger. He never fully recovered from this injury so decided to go into teaching. He was very proud to tell me this story and would repeat it quite often whenever we met!

 

[I should coco]

England was a shambles post Ramsay and they didn't even have foreigners or the PL to blame.

Appointing DirtyLeeds' cheating archictect dedin't help either. To give him some credit, he had the nous to realise he couldn't do it and buggered off.

We were crying out for Old Big 'Ed, the best manager that England never had, but the Blazers just couldn't bring themselves to appoint anyone who wasn't a 'jolly good chap'.

 

[Paulus]

I'm not sure anyone could describe Revie as "a jolly good chap" but crucially he was prepared to play the game with the suits; Clough absolutely would not.

 

[Bert]

Emile heskey, also known as "power and pace". The commentators would recite this every game he played in. Would boil my piss.
I used to think Liverpool/ England, what a donkey.

He had a very good game for Wigan that day they sent us down.

 

[BushBlade]

He had a very good game for Wigan that day they sent us down.

England's best striker at the time was Owen and his best strike partner was Heskey. It's a shame he didn't score more but we didn't have anyone else who got the best out of Owen and scored a lot themselves.

 

[SouthEssexBlade]

I'd hazard an opinion that Woody and Pop Robson were an unlikely comparison.
Woody being generally an out and out winger until the latter stages of his United career, Robson usually an out and out striker and the little part of a little and large partnership popular back in the day.

I'd agree, I was just looking at the team and formation which had Robson as the wide right player of a front three. That formation has Keith Weller as a central midfielder, which he never was, more of a wide player. Picking 11 players of the time not to have gained a cap should include Woody, but as Silent Blade says, the vogue of the time for England was no wingers.