A skilful, aware and confident midfielder, Alan Devonshire probably should have
won more caps than the eight he ultimately attained, but his type of ball-playing,
occasionally spectacular and sometimes cheeky work in the centre of the park
had been wrapped up substantially by Tottenham Hotspur's Glenn Hoddle.
Meanwhile, Devonshire's profound loyalty to West Ham didn't help, with the
club's Second Division status at the start of the 1980s making him nothing more
than an experimental figure. His debut came immediately prior to the 1980
European Championships when he was selected for a Home International match
against Northern Ireland at Wembley. Coach Ron Greenwood gave him another
go in Sydney as England beat Australia prior to the finals, with Devonshire coming
on as a sub for the equally inexperienced David Armstrong.
Greenwood's policy of seeing who was bubbling under didn't work out for Devonshire
in terms of a squad place, and he stayed at home as England went to Italy and were
eliminated in the first round. Though West Ham had just won the FA Cup, they were
still in the Second Division and though it didn't harm Trevor Brooking's international
standing, many an eyebrow would have been raised had another player from outside
the top flight become a regular England starter, especially as England now had to
qualify for the World Cup - something they hadn't done for twenty years.
Devonshire played no part in the qualifying campaign, concentrating instead on getting
the Hammers back into the First Division, but once more was given opportunities in
the warm-up games prior to the tournament. He won his third cap against Holland
in May 1982 but was substituted by Graham Rix, and a fourth came his way in Iceland,
just a fortnight before the tournament began. As expected, he was again left out of the
squad. When Bobby Robson took over, Devonshire was one of many players with whom
he experimented as he began to establish a new set-up to replace the ageing players
whose England careers were dying, if not completely over. Devonshire's fifth cap came
in a bad 2-1 defeat in a friendly against West Germany at Wembley, before Robson
selected him again for the 2-1 win over Wales in the 1983 Home Internationals. Bizarrely,
Devonshire's final two caps were his only taste of competitive international football as
England drew poorly with Greece at Wembley before beating Luxembourg 4-0 away
from home. By the end of 1983, Devonshire's England career had ended, tagged on
the evidence as a player who was fantastic at club level but just didn't do it when
handed the chance for his country. (Matthew Rudd) |