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The very English tradition of using a tall, burly target man as a centre forward extended to the national team in the 1970s, with Alf Ramsey deploying Martin Chivers and Joe Royle, then Don Revie giving run-outs to Malcolm Macdonald and David Johnson. So it was following tradition as well as form when Ron Greenwood, unable to rescue England's flawed campaign to attain a place at the 1978 World Cup, gave a debut to Everton's prolific and effective Bob Latchford amongst two other first-time caps when Italy came to Wembley to complete the qualification group at the end of 1977. Latchford was unstoppable for Everton at the time, enjoying an enchanted season which would ultimately yield 30 goals, and his willingness to act as a battering ram frightened the Italians and made space for Kevin Keegan to dash round and behind him, feeding off the through balls from Trevor Brooking and the crosses from the debutant wingers, Peter Barnes and Steve Coppell. England won 2-0 and Latchford, given a standing ovation when substituted late on, was highly praised in all quarters. At this point, Greenwood was still settling into the job and had a number of goal-friendly target men to assess - Johnson, Stuart Pearson, Paul Mariner - so Latchford didn't play in the friendly against West Germany at the start of 1978 but was picked for the visit of Brazil to Wembley two months later.
He kept his place for the start of the 1978 Home International competition and scored a typical and terrific opener against Wales in Cardiff as England won 3-1, quickly making sure his hot streak at club level could be replicated in the national team. Though he was omitted for the other two matches of the tournament, Bob had become Greenwood's most favoured bustler up front and took part in the last three games of 1978, including the opening game in the qualification group for the 1978 European Championships, which England won 4-3. Latchford scored his country's opener but the telepathy between Keegan and Brooking overshadowed his contribution, so he promptly scored in the next qualifier too as England fought out a 1-1 draw in Dublin (the photo above is during the game) and added two more in the third qualifier versus Northern Ireland at Wembley as England won 4-0. Latchford was now set in stone as England's premier centre forward, playing in and completing all three Home International fixtures and playing a crucial, if non-scoring, part in England's next qualifer success as Bulgaria were turned over 3-0 in Sofia. England then beat Austria 4-3 before the summer break, but subsequently Latchford was never recalled.
Injuries were a problem the following season and his form went from inspirational to calamitous, with just six goals from a truncated Everton campaign which saw their flirtation with relegation. Greenwood decided to pack the midfield for the remaining quartet of qualifiers to make defeats less likely and by the time he needed a target man again, he had the in-form Johnson and Mariner, plus the emerging Gary Birtles, to call upon. All three went to the finals in Italy, while Latchford's one consolation in missing out was that his was one of the more entertaining and fulfilling of the many brief England careers. (Matthew Rudd)
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