| One of English football's more articulate and humble individuals, Trevor Brooking was one of the unluckier England stars of his time, given that within teams who were unable to qualify for two major tournaments during his earlier period in the national side, was a man who would have undoubtedly graced those events had England been able to progress. One half of a delightful and pretty much unique pairing with Kevin Keegan from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, Brooking's tremendous coolness on the ball, ability to deliver a pass and admirable lack of any temper or indiscipline endeared him to the West Ham United fans for whom he played for his whole career (he is pictured above in action for the Hammers), as well as the suffering England faithful. Brooking's first cap came famously amidst a mini-spate of debutants in Alf Ramsey's last game in charge - a 0-0 draw with Portugal in April 1974 - and he ran the midfield in a relaxed and carefree manner, giving real hope to an England cause still reeling from the failure to qualify for that summer's World Cup which ultimately cost Ramsey his job. Caretaker replacement Joe Mercer had a strong look at Trevor during the summer friendlies, giving the West Ham playmaker 90 minutes on all four occasions, the latter trio of which were on a mini-tour of Eastern Europe. It was during this period that the first seeds of a telepathic understanding between Brooking and Keegan were sown. It was unique as they didn't play in the same position, thereby making it somewhat unorthodox a pairing. But Brooking's eye for a pass and Keegan's anticipation of a ball produced many great goals, even allowing for the long period of underachievement and disappointment which the era represented, and also for new manager Don Revie's inexplicable ignorance of Trevor's value after his appointment to the job. Revie picked Brooking for his first game in charge - a 3-0 win over Czechoslovakia in the opening qualifier for the 1976 European Championships at Wembley - but only brought him on as a sub after the game had been won. After that, Trevor disappeared off Revie's roster until more than a year later when he started a qualifier in Portugal at a point when England's campaign to reach the finals had died. England drew 1-1 but Brooking was back in favour, starting eight of the ten matches of 1976, including the American bi-centennial tournament and the opening two World Cup qualifiers against Finland at Wembley (won 2-1) and Italy in Rome (lost, crucially, 2-0). (Matthew Rudd) |