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Although he made his name as a striker, it was as a burly and pacey midfield creator that Ray Kennedy became an England international, receiving his first cap in 1976 amongst no less than eight other first-timers in a 2-1 win over Wales, and Ray - along with fellow new boy Peter Taylor - enjoyed the bonus of a scoring debut. Though he was naturally left-sided, Kennedy had a balance to his footwork which earned him a number of caps, replicating his Liverpool role as a creative midfielder with a licence to support the strikers as much as possible. Don Revie selected him for all three of the 1976 Home Internationals and Kennedy played well enough to feel confident about his prospects, but Revie was Revie, and his habit of ditching players without explanation or reason affected Ray amongst a number of others, and he wasn't recalled until March the following year when England took on whipping boys Luxembourg in a World Cup qualifier at Wembley. Kennedy scored in the 5-0 win and stuck around for two of the subsequent Home International games, but at no point was anyone convinced that he was in Revie's plans long term. Revie included Kennedy in his squad which toured South America in the summer of 1977, but Ray's relationship with the coach became a non-issue when Revie quit during the tour.
Kennedy, for his part, managed two substitute appearances during the tour and then started the first game back home under caretaker coach Ron Greenwood, who had decided to put a total of six Liverpool players (plus Kevin Keegan, who had just left for Hamburg) in the side for the sake of familiarity and in an effort to make the team settle quickly after the tribulations under Revie. England disappointingly drew the match 0-0 with Switzerland. The final two World Cup qualifiers loomed, and Kennedy played in the game against Luxembourg which required a cricket score to give England hope against Italy in the last match. However, although Ray opened the scoring in Luxembourg, only one more goal followed and qualification was now all but impossible. Greenwood decided to dispense with Kennedy, even though he was still a marauding and effective presence in the Liverpool midfield, until 1979 when, with Ray in inspired form as Liverpool continued to conquer, he was called up for the last game of the decade - a 2-0 win over Bulgaria at Wembley in a qualifier for the 1980 European Championships. Kennedy's renaissance lasted long enough to earn him three caps in the build-up to the finals (he is pictured above battling for possession with Terry Yorath during the game against Wales. photo George Herringshaw ©) and he was delighted to be handed a place in the squad bound for Italy. Greenwood brought him on as a sub for clubmate David Johnson in the opening 1-1 draw with Belgium; then put him in the starting line-up as a free midfielder behind a strike pairing of Tony Woodcock and Garry Birtles as Greenwood went for broke to get a win against Italy. England lost 1-0, Ray didn't feature in the last game and Greenwood didn't ask him back, feeling with some justification that a 31 year old Kennedy was unlikely to be still at the top of his game by the time of the 1982 World Cup. (Matthew Rudd)
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