Steve COPPELL

For the six years he graced an England shirt, there was no player quite like Steve Coppell. Easily the foremost winger of his generation, the Manchester United player was brought into the side in 1977 as part of a fresh start under Ron Greenwood and made an impact so instant that he was immediately deemed a first choice player. Coppell was quick, positive, blessed with immaculate close control, devilishly accurate with his crosses and, most crucially of all for an international, consistent. Unlike the numerous wingers tried on the opposite flank, Steve was a player whose performances never became complacent or mediocre, and it is tragic yet somehow fitting that his early demise as a player came as he fought the England cause.

The shambles over Don Revie's departure from the England job in the summer of 1977 left new incumbent Greenwood the task of picking up England's dying campaign to qualify for the World Cup. The cricket score needed in Luxembourg to give England half a chance against the Italians afterwards never materialised, and so it was with both eyes on a longer term future that Greenwood picked his squad for the Wembley visit of Italy. Coppell was one of three new caps brought in for the game (Peter Barnes and Bob Latchford were the others) and he excelled down his right touchline, frequently seeking out opponents with penetrating crosses on the run and making his marker think hard about when to challenge him and how. So impressive was his display that Greenwood kept him in place for the whole of 1978 as England destroyed all three opponents in the summer Home Internationals, and Coppell rounded it off by scoring the only goal against Scotland at Hampden, pouncing after Alan Rough had dropped a cross from Trevor Brooking. Coppell's creativity was to the fore as England beat Denmark 4-3 in a thrilling opening qualifier for the 1980 European Championships, then he rounded off a stunning personal year by scoring the only goal in a friendly win over Czechoslovakia at Wembley.

More would follow in 1979 as Steve matched his ever-presence for Manchester United by attempting such with England, taking part in the first five matches, including another unbeaten trio of games in the Home Internationals, and further joy came Coppell's way when he scored in the victories over Northern Ireland (the photo above is during the game) and Scotland. Greenwood finally rested his star winger for a friendly in Sweden as he experimented with a narrow midfield but the game ended dour and goalless, and Coppell was recalled for the game three days later in Vienna which brought him another goal although England lost the friendly to Austria 4-3. Greenwood occasionally used wingers on both flanks but when he felt a tightening exercise through the middle was required, it was always the left winger (Peter Barnes, Laurie Cunningham) who was benched prior to the game. Coppell was too vital to miss out. (Matthew Rudd)

Steve Coppell played in two of England's closing quartet of qualifiers for the European Championships while coming as a sub in a third and being rested for his own good in the other. England won them all and qualified with some ease. Greenwood unsurprisingly selected Coppell for his form tournament, the Home Internationals, and Steve yet again responded with a goal against Scotland (the photo above is during the game) - his third in successive matches against the old enemy - prior to his shoo-in as a member of Greenwood's final party which would travel to Italy for the European Championship tournament, England's first major finals in a decade. Coppell was picked for the opening game against Belgium, earning his 24th cap, and after the 1-1 draw was kept in by Greenwood, amidst a sea of changes, for the must-win second game against the hosts in Turin. England's sad 1-0 defeat meant that other results would form part of their ambitions of progress, and Steve was left out of the final group game which ended in a 2-1 win over Spain.

England still did not progress. Coppell, however, was now 25 caps into his international career, coming in an impressive 29-game period, a statistic which emphasised the ease and panache with which he had embraced the international game. He would now become one of the key players in Greenwood's plans to get England into a World Cup finals for the first time in a dozen years, and have a successful qualifying campaign for the first time in twenty. Coppell missed the opening 4-0 win over Norway at Wembley for tactical reasons, then came on as a sub in the next game as England succumbed 2-1 in Romania. With the qualification stage not beginning ideally for England, Greenwood dumped the new experiments and reached for the old guard, and Steve earned a recall to the starting line-up as England were frustrated by the Romanians again with a goalless Wembley draw. He played again as England lost a friendly 1-0 to Brazil, then started both games of England's restricted and unimpressive Home International fixtures, failing to score against the Scots this time as England lost 1-0 at Wembley. (Matthew Rudd)

There were four World Cup qualifiers left but Coppell was at his more ineffective in the first of them, a 2-1 defeat in Switzerland, but then improved as England got their hopes back on course with a 3-1 win in Hungary. Two games remained, and the first ended in an infamous defeat in Norway which seemed to scupper England's chances until results elsewhere miraculously left them with a 'win or bust' situation in the final qualifier against the Hungarians at Wembley. For Coppell, that expression applied literally, and the end was suddenly in sight. Steve Coppell took to the Wembley field for his 34th international appearance as England set out to beat Hungary and book their place at the World Cup. His regular game of using timing and pace to get the better of his full back worked well as England took an early lead through Paul Mariner's stumbled shot. However, there was one shimmy and humiliation too many for the Hungarian full back whom Coppell was torturing, and the next time Steve went down his outside, a left boot crashed into his knee, sending him sprawling in agony to the Wembley turf.

The initial diagnosis - and the pain - confirmed there was no way Coppell could continue, and he was helped from the field to a standing ovation from a Wembley crowd which was seething at the full back who had committed such a spiteful foul, for which he received a caution. Tony Morley of Aston Villa replaced Coppell, making his England debut in the process, and England maintained the lead and qualified for the World Cup. Steve, who described the feeling as "like someone had put a firework in my knee and it had gone off", underwent surgery and intensive physiotherapy and although he didn't play for Manchester United again that season, he was seemingly fit enough to be called into the Home International squad the following May. Naturally the game was against his favourite opponents, Scotland, and Coppell played the full 90 minutes, although England's only goal wasn't scored by him, but by Mariner. Two friendlies remained before Greenwood had to announce his final squad for the World Cup and Coppell did enough in the final game, a 4-1 win in Finland, to convince Greenwood he was back to fitness and ready for the World Cup. (Matthew Rudd)

Steve Coppell was named in the squad and then the starting line-up for England's opener against France in Bilbao, immediately contributing to a piece of World Cup history by hurling in the long throw barely 20 seconds into the game which Terry Butcher flicked down for Bryan Robson to score the competition's fastest ever goal. England won all three of their group games in style and with Coppell in the team but a goalless draw in the second group phase against West Germany (see photo above, Steve challenging Hans Muller. Image George Herringshaw. ©) prompted Greenwood to refresh the team for the must-win match which followed against Spain. Steve was sacrificed for an extra striker but England failed to score, and a second 0-0 draw was enough to send them home, eliminated but unbeaten. By the time England reconvened under new coach Bobby Robson in September 1982, Coppell was having new knee trouble.

The old injury, which he had successfully nursed at the World Cup, had returned with a vengeance and although he managed a handful of games for Manchester United and played twice for Robson (including the 9-0 win over Luxembourg at Wembley in a 1984 European Championship qualifier, in which he scored) it was clear from the medical advice with which he was issued that his long term mobility would be adversely affected if he continued playing. He retired in the summer of 1983 at not quite 28 years of age. Although England's potency down the right flank was eventually re-activated with the emergence of Trevor Steven and Chris Waddle, it's not too wacky to believe that a 30 year old Coppell would have been an experienced and vital part of England's 1986 World Cup squad had his knee clung on to strength. Certainly Robson was very disappointed to lose him and every England supporter who saw his consistently high level of performance in the shirt, initially at a time when the national team was in the doldrums, also mourned his early loss. Coppell's legacy, however, remains as the brightest of Greenwood's new recruits who helped England drag herself back into major finals and worldwide acclaim, and few international legacies are more impressive than that. (Matthew Rudd)