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Garry Birtles fitted the stereotype of the English centre forward, who was beginning to be regarded as a bit old-fashioned in the progressive game of the late 1970s. Tall, awkward and strong, Birtles was (like most big frontmen labelled in this blinkered way) infinitely more skilled than many would issue credit for and, as a form striker with two European Cups and a League Cup on his CV, nobody could argue with the summons sent to the Nottingham Forest forward to report to England headquarters in May 1980 for a friendly match against Argentina at Wembley. He came on as a sub amidst huge applause, though that was for Liverpool striker David Johnson who was being withdrawn after a heroic two-goal display, and his replacement hardly had the opportunity to come close to replicating this.
Yet only one cap, no international competitive experience and no full appearances was still enough for Ron Greenwood to award him a prized place in the final European Championship squad of 1980, and he was picked for a crucial second match against the hosts Italy which England had to win. Birtles' inexperience - despite the familiarity of having club strike partner Tony Woodcock alongside him - told here with a muted, nervous display as England lost 1-0 and were eliminated from the competition, and he didn't last the 90 minutes as the more wizened Paul Mariner was deployed to attempt a late rescue mission.
He came back at the end of 1980 for a World Cup qualifier in Romania (the picture above is prior to the match) when he was paired with Woodcock again but England lost 2-1 and Greenwood decided to look elsewhere for his brawnier strikers, with Mariner especially reaping the benefits. Birtles' move in the same week to Manchester United proved pretty disastrous, and any aspirations of an England recall vanished entirely. (Matthew Rudd)
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