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"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." 18:26 - Jun 12 with 5670 viewsBrianMcCarthy

Right now (I know, I know..) I was thinking of Steve Hodge, which had me immediately humming the above Kerry Dixon chant.

Apart from the diminutive Forest and Rangers midfielder, and the expert penalty-taker from South-West London's Finest Racists, what other players of yesteryear were incredibly lucky to play for England?




"The opposite of love, after all, is not hate, but indifference."
Poll: Player of the Year (so far)

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"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 06:10 - Jun 13 with 1722 viewsSK_hoops

"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 21:38 - Jun 12 by Malintabuk

For me it was a couple of strikers... First David Nugent who's only contribution to England was smashing in a Defoe goal on the goal line and celebrating as if he scored a worldly..
The other who I personally thought was a great striker but never done anything in English colours was Jeff Astle..... only won 5 caps but was dreadful
Also another good player Peter Bonnetti..... never recovered from Mexico...


Only championship player to ever score for England. I'd be celebrating!
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"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 08:52 - Jun 13 with 1621 viewsWatford_Ranger

"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 23:04 - Jun 12 by BazzaInTheLoft

Darius Vassell if no one has mentioned him yet.


Vague memories now but didn’t he famously raise his game for England despite being mediocre in club football? Scored against Turkey in a somewhat feisty qualifier at Sunderland.
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"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 09:11 - Jun 13 with 1597 viewsfrancisbowles

"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 20:02 - Jun 12 by Northernr

I remember when Sven started I thought it was a breath of fresh air to see a manager willing to pick outside the Man Utd, Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool, boys club. I think, famous quiz question, Chris Powell got a cap in his first international in charge at Villa Park.

But over time I thought he completely degraded and destroyed what it meant to win an England cap and one of the reasons I gave Southgate so much leeway is he brought that back.

Evidence for the prosecution…
Jermaine Jenas has 21 England caps
Phil Neville 59 (!!!) (Gerry Francis got 12)
Emile Heskey 62 (7 goals, amazed it was that many tbh)
Danny Mills 19
Kieron Dyer 20
Zat Knight has 2 England caps
Paul Konchesky has 2 England caps
Anthony Gardner. Gavin McCann.


I'm not sure Kieran Dyer deserves to be on that list. He was an extremely talented as well as versatile footballer, when fit.
Unfortunately, his body let him down and our views may heavily
tainted by his awful injury record in his spell with us.
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"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 10:02 - Jun 13 with 1533 viewsterryb

"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 21:38 - Jun 12 by Malintabuk

For me it was a couple of strikers... First David Nugent who's only contribution to England was smashing in a Defoe goal on the goal line and celebrating as if he scored a worldly..
The other who I personally thought was a great striker but never done anything in English colours was Jeff Astle..... only won 5 caps but was dreadful
Also another good player Peter Bonnetti..... never recovered from Mexico...


I'm another in the Jeff Astle camp. How he was in the 1970 World Cup squad (what a miss agianst Brazil!) instead of Rodney or Neil Young (Manchester City) remains a mystery.

Young would rate very highly in a thread of best players not to be internationals. As would a player Myke has mentioned in Chris Lawler, IMO the best goal scoring full back in my lifetime.
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"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 10:14 - Jun 13 with 1521 viewsGhost_on_the_Westway

"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 21:27 - Jun 12 by BrianMcCarthy

I definitely remember it at HQ when Kerry Dixon visited West London.

You're definitely right that it was used for Lee Dixon later on, though.


Ah, so maybe it originated with old Donkey Dixon. My memory of it is it being blasted out at Highbury. God, I loved The Bard and Clive.

Speaking of chants aimed at Chelws, who remembers “We all believe, Speedie is better than Francis”?

Even a Chelsea mate told me that lot thought that was a good one, once he had come out of hiding.

I need a SAGA. What’s the SAGA? It’s ….. Queen’s Park Rangers.

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"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 10:24 - Jun 13 with 1508 viewsBazzaInTheLoft

"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 08:52 - Jun 13 by Watford_Ranger

Vague memories now but didn’t he famously raise his game for England despite being mediocre in club football? Scored against Turkey in a somewhat feisty qualifier at Sunderland.


Yeah that’s a pretty good summation.

Scored a bicycle kick against the Netherlands too.
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"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 11:54 - Jun 13 with 1431 viewsCamberleyR

"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 00:14 - Jun 13 by Myke

That whole Liverpool defence was quite intriguing. Any one of them was only average on their own (Clemence better than Shilton- no way) Joey Jones, Tommy Smith, Emlyn Hughes, Larry Lloyd (,Clough made him into a top individual player) Chris Lawlor
Phil Neal. But the sum of the parts under Shankley/Paisley was virtually impregnable. It helped of course that their attacking prowess meant that they were not under sustained pressure during games.
But it did not necessarily translate onto the International stage. I remember an England manager picking the entire (eligible) Liverpool team. I think it was Ian Callaghan's only cap. I think it was against Switzerland but I am certain it was a dire 0-0 draw. So I guess (with the exception of Kevin Keegan) you could add that entire Liverpool team to your list.


"I remember an England manager picking the entire (eligible) Liverpool team. I think it was Ian Callaghan's only cap. I think it was against Switzerland but I am certain it was a dire 0-0 draw"

September 1977 a friendly against Switzerland, Ron Greenwood's first game as England caretaker manager and yes it WAS a 0-0 draw. It was actually Ian Callaghan's first England cap for 11 years! He'd last played for England in the 1966 World Cup group game against France when Alf Ramsey was still giving wingers a go. Callaghan was 35 by this time!

The players picked were: Ray Clemence, Phil Neal, Emlyn Hughes, Ray Kennedy, Terry McDermott and Callaghan. You could say it was virtually seven Liverpool players as Kevin Keegan was also in the squad who'd only just moved to Hamburg.

One thing has always intrigued about this is the absence of Jimmy Case who was the only English Liverpool player not picked. It must have been strange for him to see all his Liverpool team mates go off to the England training camp with him left behind wondering what he'd maybe done.

As a post script, Callaghan was picked once more in the following game, a World Cup qualifier away in Luxembourg where 5 of the Liverpool 6 again played, a pathetic performance where England just scraped a 2-0 win which all but ended their hopes of qualifying.

There's a famous photo of them:

Poll: Which is the worst QPR team?

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"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 11:57 - Jun 13 with 1408 viewsCamberleyR

"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 10:02 - Jun 13 by terryb

I'm another in the Jeff Astle camp. How he was in the 1970 World Cup squad (what a miss agianst Brazil!) instead of Rodney or Neil Young (Manchester City) remains a mystery.

Young would rate very highly in a thread of best players not to be internationals. As would a player Myke has mentioned in Chris Lawler, IMO the best goal scoring full back in my lifetime.


Lawler actually played four times for England Terry all in 1971, a couple of home internationals and a couple of Euro '72 qualifiers.

Poll: Which is the worst QPR team?

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"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 12:20 - Jun 13 with 1350 viewsMrSheen

"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 11:57 - Jun 13 by CamberleyR

Lawler actually played four times for England Terry all in 1971, a couple of home internationals and a couple of Euro '72 qualifiers.


All I can remember of Mike Pejic's international career (apart from the cool name) was an own-goal at Hampden.
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"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 14:57 - Jun 13 with 1275 viewsterryb

"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 11:57 - Jun 13 by CamberleyR

Lawler actually played four times for England Terry all in 1971, a couple of home internationals and a couple of Euro '72 qualifiers.


Thanks Camberley. That had completely escaped my memory!
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"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 15:38 - Jun 13 with 1219 viewsWilkinswatercarrier

John Fashanu awooga!

2 caps pre World Cup 90. I mean I loved Bobby Robson, but WTF?

And Steve Bull. Who played 13 times for England! Yet never played at the top level domestically. I even think he went to WC 90 and played. Saying that if the only other option was Fash the Bash then fair enough.......

Poll: How is Nourry cooking so far ? 🤣

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"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 15:48 - Jun 13 with 1216 viewsQPRSam

Jon Flanagan cap in 2014 is hard to believe but true
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"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 12:48 - Jun 14 with 1062 viewsGhost_on_the_Westway

"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 15:38 - Jun 13 by Wilkinswatercarrier

John Fashanu awooga!

2 caps pre World Cup 90. I mean I loved Bobby Robson, but WTF?

And Steve Bull. Who played 13 times for England! Yet never played at the top level domestically. I even think he went to WC 90 and played. Saying that if the only other option was Fash the Bash then fair enough.......


IIRC, Steve Bull replaced Fashanu at HT away at Hampden and scored a pretty decent goal.

A Scotland defender said afterwards that they were having no problems (and this is a Scotland defender saying this 😂) up until that point, so that’s how cr4p Fashanu was.

Wolves might still have been a 4th tier team at the time.

But yeah, Fashanu is right up there on this list.

I need a SAGA. What’s the SAGA? It’s ….. Queen’s Park Rangers.

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"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 21:57 - Jun 14 with 935 viewsCamberleyR

"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 12:48 - Jun 14 by Ghost_on_the_Westway

IIRC, Steve Bull replaced Fashanu at HT away at Hampden and scored a pretty decent goal.

A Scotland defender said afterwards that they were having no problems (and this is a Scotland defender saying this 😂) up until that point, so that’s how cr4p Fashanu was.

Wolves might still have been a 4th tier team at the time.

But yeah, Fashanu is right up there on this list.


No, Wolves were third division at the time. They won the third division title that season. No player from the fourth tier has ever played for England.

Poll: Which is the worst QPR team?

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"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 22:46 - Jun 14 with 895 viewsNW5Hoop

"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 00:14 - Jun 13 by Myke

That whole Liverpool defence was quite intriguing. Any one of them was only average on their own (Clemence better than Shilton- no way) Joey Jones, Tommy Smith, Emlyn Hughes, Larry Lloyd (,Clough made him into a top individual player) Chris Lawlor
Phil Neal. But the sum of the parts under Shankley/Paisley was virtually impregnable. It helped of course that their attacking prowess meant that they were not under sustained pressure during games.
But it did not necessarily translate onto the International stage. I remember an England manager picking the entire (eligible) Liverpool team. I think it was Ian Callaghan's only cap. I think it was against Switzerland but I am certain it was a dire 0-0 draw. So I guess (with the exception of Kevin Keegan) you could add that entire Liverpool team to your list.


TBF you're also missing out a succession of Rolls Royce defenders from that list – Thompson, Hansen, Lawrenson. And I think you're underrating Hughes, who was really a half-back – a "CDM", as the youth say – who converted to centre back, and was important going forward, not just hoofing it out. But I know what you mean about it being less than the sum of its parts. Though those were the days when there were very few undoubted superstars, so every British team had its fair share of journeyman. Combine that with players not leaving relegated clubs (Brooking staying at West Ham when he was the heart of the England midfield!), and it meant the good British players were spread a lot more widely.
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"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 22:49 - Jun 14 with 885 viewsNW5Hoop

"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 11:54 - Jun 13 by CamberleyR

"I remember an England manager picking the entire (eligible) Liverpool team. I think it was Ian Callaghan's only cap. I think it was against Switzerland but I am certain it was a dire 0-0 draw"

September 1977 a friendly against Switzerland, Ron Greenwood's first game as England caretaker manager and yes it WAS a 0-0 draw. It was actually Ian Callaghan's first England cap for 11 years! He'd last played for England in the 1966 World Cup group game against France when Alf Ramsey was still giving wingers a go. Callaghan was 35 by this time!

The players picked were: Ray Clemence, Phil Neal, Emlyn Hughes, Ray Kennedy, Terry McDermott and Callaghan. You could say it was virtually seven Liverpool players as Kevin Keegan was also in the squad who'd only just moved to Hamburg.

One thing has always intrigued about this is the absence of Jimmy Case who was the only English Liverpool player not picked. It must have been strange for him to see all his Liverpool team mates go off to the England training camp with him left behind wondering what he'd maybe done.

As a post script, Callaghan was picked once more in the following game, a World Cup qualifier away in Luxembourg where 5 of the Liverpool 6 again played, a pathetic performance where England just scraped a 2-0 win which all but ended their hopes of qualifying.

There's a famous photo of them:


Case was famous for getting pissed and into punchups. It's why Paisley sold him.
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"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 23:05 - Jun 14 with 842 viewsCamberleyR

"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 22:49 - Jun 14 by NW5Hoop

Case was famous for getting pissed and into punchups. It's why Paisley sold him.


Thanks, didn't know that. That probably explains it, 'too disruptive, not the right sort'.

Poll: Which is the worst QPR team?

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"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 23:35 - Jun 14 with 817 viewsMrSheen

"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 22:49 - Jun 14 by NW5Hoop

Case was famous for getting pissed and into punchups. It's why Paisley sold him.


Ironic he finished both his playing and coaching careers at Bashley.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Case
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"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 10:25 - Jun 15 with 709 viewsterryb

"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 21:57 - Jun 14 by CamberleyR

No, Wolves were third division at the time. They won the third division title that season. No player from the fourth tier has ever played for England.


Apart from Steve Bull, John "Budgie" Byrne is probably the closest there has been & played for England Under 23's while playing in Division Four.

Palace were promoted to the third in 1961 & he made his England debut in the following November.

Division Four had only come into being in 1958/59 & so it had not had many years to produce a full international!
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"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 10:37 - Jun 15 with 691 viewsMyke

"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 22:46 - Jun 14 by NW5Hoop

TBF you're also missing out a succession of Rolls Royce defenders from that list – Thompson, Hansen, Lawrenson. And I think you're underrating Hughes, who was really a half-back – a "CDM", as the youth say – who converted to centre back, and was important going forward, not just hoofing it out. But I know what you mean about it being less than the sum of its parts. Though those were the days when there were very few undoubted superstars, so every British team had its fair share of journeyman. Combine that with players not leaving relegated clubs (Brooking staying at West Ham when he was the heart of the England midfield!), and it meant the good British players were spread a lot more widely.


You are absolutely correct. Funny I always associate the likes of Hanson and Lawrenson with 'later', but Hanson joined in '77 (he was 70 lately I believe) and Lawro a few years later. I suppose they did replace the likes of Smith and Hughes but of course they were very much part of that strong Liverpool era. Thompson I didn't rate so hhighly, always capable of a silly mistake, usually through a lack of concentration, so not a top defender imo
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"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 10:58 - Jun 15 with 649 viewsngbqpr

"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 11:54 - Jun 13 by CamberleyR

"I remember an England manager picking the entire (eligible) Liverpool team. I think it was Ian Callaghan's only cap. I think it was against Switzerland but I am certain it was a dire 0-0 draw"

September 1977 a friendly against Switzerland, Ron Greenwood's first game as England caretaker manager and yes it WAS a 0-0 draw. It was actually Ian Callaghan's first England cap for 11 years! He'd last played for England in the 1966 World Cup group game against France when Alf Ramsey was still giving wingers a go. Callaghan was 35 by this time!

The players picked were: Ray Clemence, Phil Neal, Emlyn Hughes, Ray Kennedy, Terry McDermott and Callaghan. You could say it was virtually seven Liverpool players as Kevin Keegan was also in the squad who'd only just moved to Hamburg.

One thing has always intrigued about this is the absence of Jimmy Case who was the only English Liverpool player not picked. It must have been strange for him to see all his Liverpool team mates go off to the England training camp with him left behind wondering what he'd maybe done.

As a post script, Callaghan was picked once more in the following game, a World Cup qualifier away in Luxembourg where 5 of the Liverpool 6 again played, a pathetic performance where England just scraped a 2-0 win which all but ended their hopes of qualifying.

There's a famous photo of them:


This LFC / England pic, of course, trumped every time by my avatar choice

Poll: Best hug a stranger / fall down five rows / 'limbs' late goals this season

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"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 11:05 - Jun 15 with 632 viewsngbqpr

"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 08:52 - Jun 13 by Watford_Ranger

Vague memories now but didn’t he famously raise his game for England despite being mediocre in club football? Scored against Turkey in a somewhat feisty qualifier at Sunderland.


Similar to the much maligned (maybe until the season just gone) Danny Welbeck.

1 in 4 at club level despite being surrounded by (ahem) 'top top' players most of his club career - which would make you think was international selection down to being a 'big club' player...but a decent 16 in 42 for England.

Poll: Best hug a stranger / fall down five rows / 'limbs' late goals this season

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(No subject) on 11:42 - Jun 15 with 611 viewsBazzaInTheLoft

"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 11:05 - Jun 15 by ngbqpr

Similar to the much maligned (maybe until the season just gone) Danny Welbeck.

1 in 4 at club level despite being surrounded by (ahem) 'top top' players most of his club career - which would make you think was international selection down to being a 'big club' player...but a decent 16 in 42 for England.


His Dad, Stan, is a legend in the bomb disposal game.
[Post edited 15 Jun 11:43]
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(No subject) on 18:50 - Jun 15 with 511 viewsPhilmyRs

(No subject) on 11:42 - Jun 15 by BazzaInTheLoft

His Dad, Stan, is a legend in the bomb disposal game.
[Post edited 15 Jun 11:43]


Were it not for injuries, I think Wellbeck would have been a top, top player for England. The kid had it all, just needed to develop physically but injuries cost him. Shame for him and us. Pleased he’s having a late swansong though.
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"If Dixon Plays For England So Can I..." on 20:25 - Jun 15 with 446 viewsHastings_Hoops

Steve Bull?
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