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One of the eldest outfield England debutants of the modern era, but it was not undeserved as Steve Bould, the astute and substantially proportioned Arsenal central defender, received his first letter from the FA six months before his 32nd birthday after several seasons co-helming the doggedly mean Arsenal back four with Tony Adams.
Terry Venables, newly positioned as coach, had a progressive and experimental theory about trying to pair up a steadfast club partnership into one at England level, and had room to do so as England were hosting the next major tournament and therefore had no qualifiers to ponder. Bould played adeptly in a 5-0 thumping of Greece (Kevin Richardson was another debutant that day) and a goalless draw with Norway (the photo above is during the game) but Venables, exploiting the lack of pressure on him, subsequently felt the need to look elsewhere.
Bould's brief international career added a spot of icing to his Arsenal cake, and he stayed at the top of his game until his release in 1999 when his contract expired. His haul of club medals enriched his magnificent defensive reputation; more so did the fact that no goals were conceded by England at any point that Bould was on the pitch. (Matthew Rudd)
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