Thursday 24 February 2011

One cap wonders.

We can all be heroes, even just for one day. 
Spare a thought for England's One cap wonders. Some great players over the years have had the chance to pull on the famous 3 lions jersey. Players such as Danny Mills, Carlton Cole, Zat Knight, David Hirst, Michael Gray & Wes Brown have had the chance to win more than the odd cap. But which players only managed to gain a single cap? We're gonna count down our top five favorite One Cap wonders! 

5. Lets get the ball rolling, In @ Number 5. We need you to cast your mind back to 2003, England had been crying out for the next 'Fox in the Box'. A young lad by the name of Francis Jeffers had been talked of as becoming 'the next big thing! A big money move to Arsenal, followed by a slightly delayed call up to the England squad. This young gun had the future @ his feet. A nothing friendly game against the wizard of O'z what could go wrong? Well England lost 3-1. It was a shambles but the one light from the game was  young Jeffers. Had he done enough to feature in future internationals? In a word No. Things went from bad to worse for the lad after that. Following spells @ Rangers, Blackburn, Ipswich, Sheffield Wednesday and Newcastle, *Newcastle Jets that is. Jeffers is now playing for Motherwell. @ the age of 30 he still could add to his one cap, stranger things have happened, just ask Heskey.

4. This ones for the old guards, Now there was a time not so long ago, where you could only make the odd substitution. Players were made of harder stuff! During the 60's & 70's England were blest with goalkeeping talent. This may explain why our next entry only played once for his country. In @ number 4 is Manchester United Legend Alex Stepney. Stepney can count a League title, a European title and One England cap as his achievements. Ironically two of these achievements took place in the same week, A first England cap followed by a European title, Its a funny old game. 

3. In third place. He was best known for being one half of the famous SAS during Blackburn Rovers title winning season in the 90's. Fantastic header of the ball and great feet, scoring over 150 career goals. 
Step forward Chris Sutton. A fall out with then England manager Glenn Hoddle didn't help his cause. 

2. A legend for his club, playing over 800 times for his boy-hood team. The Footballers Writers Association Footballer of the Year in 1982,  A collection of winners medals including the F.A Cup, League Cup & The UEFA Cup. The player in question had to wait until he was in his 30's and the 70th minute of England's game against Iceland In 1982 to make his International debut. Only just kept off of the top spot, in @ number 2 is Steve Perryman. 

So who could be number one in this count down? Remember we are looking @ the best top 5 one cap wonders, so straight away that rules out the likes of Michael Ricketts, Seth Jonhson, David Unsworth & Neil Ruddock. 

1. A Legend of our  Game. A one club man, A title winner in 51, He was part of the Durham Light Infantry during the second world war, training up the new recruits. It was during this time he learnt the man management skills he would need later on in life, He was the first manager to lead his team to the 'double' back in 61, the first manager to lead a British club to glory in Europe. @ number 1 on our list is Bill Nicholson. 1 cap 1 goal.







2 comments:

  1. Nice to see that Spurs grab the top 2... or is that a bad thing? Hopefully Redknapp won't get HIS England call-up anytime soon

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  2. I like the views, light hearted but to the point.

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