| Chris Waddle's best form at club level came at Marseille in the early 1990s. As a right winger with licence to roam, he had become the creative lynchpin and exponent of the ridiculous and the flamboyant as the southern French side aimed for the elite of Europe. Waddle's form at the World Cup in Italy was merely a by-product of his first full season in France, so when Graham Taylor, the new coach, elected to ditch him from the team after just two substitute appearances, the nation was mystified. Waddle replaced Steve Bull in Taylor's first match - a 1-0 win over Hungary at Wembley - and then came on for the same player in England's opening qualifier for the 1992 European Championships against Poland at Wembley. This was symbolic for the return to the team of Peter Beardsley after Taylor took enormous amounts of stick for not including the impish Liverpool star in his squad against Hungary at all. In the second half against Poland, England led 1-0 when Taylor threw Beardsley and Waddle on. Chris controlled the rest of the game with some ease, while Beardsley scored an outstanding goal from 25 yards, the best of his international career. Yet between them, they would play only five more times for Taylor, and Waddle was cast aside for one day shy of a whole year, even though he was in the form of his life at Marseille. Although not a great amount had gone wrong with England's campaign to get to the European Championship finals in Sweden, the media rightly liked the fact that an Englishman was being projected as one of Europe's biggest stars and therefore made a point of badgering Taylor about his continued insistence of ignoring Waddle's claims for a recall. Eventually, Taylor cracked and, in October 1991, brought back Chris (along with Bryan Robson, who'd last played seven months earlier) for the penultimate qualifier against Turkey (the photo above is during the game). England struggled but Waddle did his bit, sending over a peach of a cross from the right flank - with the left foot, of course - for Alan Smith to head the only goal. The reviews were mixed but everyone expected Waddle - if not Robson - to be back in the set-up permanently as England sought to rubberstamp their place in the finals. Taylor, however, refused to pick Chris again. What made the decision more difficult for England fans to comprehend was that the wide players Taylor favoured - with the exception of John Barnes, who was often injured - seemed to be more reliant on industry and less on quality. Tony Daley and Andy Sinton were particular favourites, but neither were of the Waddle ilk. Up to the finals themselves, the media kept Waddle's name alive in the hope it might prompt Taylor into a change of heart but, despite chronic injury troubles which decimated his first-choice squad for Sweden, he would not call on Chris, who scaled down his football that summer with a move to Sheffield Wednesday. It really was over, after a breathtaking 62-cap rollercoaster ride which had bumpy roads and some divine pit-stops. A natural winger and creator of his complete unpredictability and absolute talent has never really been seen in an England shirt since. He's still missed and it was scandalous that Taylor discarded him so quickly when he clearly had so much left to offer at international level. (Matthew Rudd) |