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Geoff Thomas was a workmanlike and reliable midfielder yet many chose to scorn him ahead of any other such journeyman player recruited by Graham Taylor for international duty. The truth was that England had lost Bryan Robson while the hotheaded Paul Ince wasn't quite ready for the central anchoring role, so Thomas - once given a free transfer by Rochdale - was brought in to shore things up. It's doubtful that Taylor ever intended to keep Geoff in his plans for any longer, and certainly Thomas had enjoyed a good brace of seasons as captain of a Crystal Palace side determined to raise their game.
It was no harm taking a look. England were uninspiring during the earliest Taylor spell but Geoff was no worse or better than anyone else in the side and his debut against Turkey in Izmir passed without incident as England came away with a brow-mopping 1-0 win to get their 1992 European Championship qualification campaign underway in the right manner. Thomas started the next six matches, alongside his ex-Crewe team-mate David Platt, and there wasn't much controversy surrounding his own displays as England progressed nicely in their qualifying campaign. Thomas was, however, taken out of the firing line after derisory Press coverage followed his own display in a 2-0 friendly win over France at Wembley when, breaching the offside trap with no defender in sight, he tried to chip the onrushing goalkeeper from distance and badly miscued the effort towards the corner flag.
Palace fans continued to love him but the rest of football and beyond unfairly made him a figure of fun afterwards, and Taylor didn't recall him despite the fact that Geoff never finished on the losing side on his nine international outings. (Matthew Rudd)
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