| Eric Gates, the charismatic Ipswich Town striker, was thrown in at the deep end for his England debut in September 1980 when he was selected, on form, by Ron Greenwood for the nation's opening World Cup qualifier against Norway at Wembley. England disposed of their opponents 4-0 with goals from Terry McDermott (2), Tony Woodcock and Eric's Ipswich sidekick Paul Mariner and although Gates didn't score, he did feature for the full 90 minutes and kept his place for the second qualifier in Romania (the photo above is just prior to the match) a month later. This time, however, England lost their bearings and went down 2-1, the goal coming from Woodcock. Gates, along with fellow striker Garry Birtles, never set foot on a pitch as an England player again. By the end of that season, Ipswich were in contention for three trophies but only Paul Mariner of their classy strike force reaped international benefits. (Matthew Rudd) |