Steve McMAHON

There was a massive clamour for Steve McMahon to be given a go in an England shirt as Liverpool completely outplayed everyone who dared come their way in the 1987/88 season. McMahon, who had been little more than a hard ball winner in his earlier days at Everton and Aston Villa, had been transformed into a hard ball player by Kenny Dalglish, and he was in the form of his life when Bobby Robson realised his supporters were right and gave him a debut in an entirely event-free friendly against Israel in February 1988. For all that nobody did anything right in Tel Aviv, McMahon certainly did nothing wrong and it was without doubt that Robson needed to take a closer look at England's central midfield. Skipper Bryan Robson was a shoo-in, but there was a question mark about how England would be best served by the captain's partner. Ray Wilkins had just left the scene, and Glenn Hoddle was both ageing and mistrusted. Nottingham Forest's Neil Webb had made a start to his England career after a good run at club level but there were questions about his defensive capabilities. McMahon seemed to fit the bill in terms of both flair and ability to spoil and so the coach kept him in the loop as the 1988 European Championships approached, for which England had qualified before Steve got involved.

He started a goalless friendly against Hungary (the photo above is during the game) for his second cap and a 1-1 draw with Colombia for his third and this, along with his exceptional Liverpool form, got him in the squad as back-up to Webb, who was still regarded as the best option alongside the captain. Webb was poor in the shock opening defeat to the Republic of Ireland but this didn't benefit McMahon as Hoddle was still in the wings and now his creativity was needed more than ever. Hoddle almost pulled it off against the Dutch before England succumbed 3-1 and McMahon finally made his competitive debut in the third and final group game, at which only pride was at stake, although he was as shellshocked as the others as a gutless England lost 3-1 to the Soviet Union and came home disgraced. The coach immediately got rid of Hoddle and Peter Reid, leaving McMahon with a clearer vision of his England future, although the emergence of Paul Gascoigne in the latter half of 1988 set his chances of progress back a bit. Steve didn't play again for England for almost exactly twelve months, coming on as a sub for Webb in a 1-1 friendly draw against Denmark in Copenhagen, and then bit-parted for the next year, playing in goalless World Cup qualifiers in Sweden and Poland in late 1989 (which guaranteed England's place in the 1990 finals in Italy) because Robson was unfit. (Matthew Rudd)

Neil Webb picked up a bad Achilles injury in the qualifying match in Sweden, so McMahon had another chance to make a mark even after Robson came back but it was still unlikely as England prepared for the finals in Italy that he would go to the tournament as anything other than a replacement for others in the event of injury. David Platt's late emergence as a fitter, faster and more potent goalscoring option in midfield could have done for McMahon's hopes of going to Italy, but Robson picked him in the 22 and even threw him on as a sub for clubmate Peter Beardsley in the opening fixture against the Republic of Ireland in Cagliari's howling gale. McMahon notoriously miscontrolled a through ball from the Irish defence and Kevin Sheedy nicked it off him to hammer home Ireland's equaliser as a result, and subsequently he was not involved in the following group match as England drew with Holland. McMahon, however, was deemed to be the best replacement for the skipper after Robson suffered another injury which would rule him out of the whole competition, and England struggled past Egypt 1-0 to get through to the second round.

Platt then scuppered McMahon's chances of further progress in the team as although Steve played the full 120 minutes against Belgium, it was sub Platt's exceptional swivelling volley in the final seconds which took England into the last eight, and after that the coach could not keep him out of the starting XI. McMahon watched without kicking a ball as England ultimately went out on penalties to West Germany in the semi-finals, although Robson did put him alongside Platt for the third place play-off against Italy (see photo above), with Webb (who was in the squad despite never looking fully fit in the latter half of the domestic season) coming on as a sub for Steve in the second half. Graham Taylor took over the coaching role thereafter and picked McMahon just once - in a 1-1 draw against Ireland in Dublin as England strived to qualify for the 1992 European Championships. Steve's recall was overshadowed by the odd dropping of Paul Gascoigne in favour of Aston Villa's Gordon Cowans, and normality was restored afterwards, with neither McMahon - by now 30 years old - nor Cowans receiving the call from Taylor again. (Matthew Rudd)