Trevor STEVEN

Trevor Steven, in a footballing sense, was the David Beckham of his day. He was his generation's best crosser of the ball and worked the right flank diligently and restlessly while rarely feeling the need to beat his man in order to whip in the centres which strikers dreamed of. After being spotted as an outstanding teenage prodigy at Burnley, he was brought to Everton where the likes of Graeme Sharp and Andy Gray eagerly and greedily fed off his terrific crosses while also having the desire and positional nous to graft back and help his full back. As Everton chased a domestic and European treble in 1985, Bobby Robson seemed to have little choice but to take a look at the young English contingent within the Goodison framework. Needing a more pragmatic flank alternative to the brilliant but individualised Chris Waddle, Robson saw the answer in Steven's phlegmatic approach to the Everton game and put him in the team for a qualifier for the 1986 World Cup against Northern Ireland, which ended in a 1-0 win. Trevor stuck around for a friendly against the Republic of Ireland a month later, with Robson instead swapping his left wingers in order to keep the young Everton player in situ.

He was rewarded with the opening goal in a 2-1 win and two more caps followed (the photo above is during the 1-1 draw against Finland) before Robson chose him and his Everton flank partner Gary Stevens for a summer mini-tournament of Mexico. The two made their first dual appearance of many in England colours in a 2-1 defeat to Italy and settled into international life together as easily as they had done for their club, with Steven subsequently scoring his second England goal in a 5-0 drubbing of the USA. Everton had won two of the three honours they were chasing, vindicating the partnership, and England continued to select them the following year as World Cup qualification was sealed. Robson still took frequent glances at Waddle and Steven made a few more appearances from the bench, although he was always certain of a squad place and notched his third England goal in a 4-0 win over Egypt. He was ten caps into his international life by the time Robson announced his World Cup squad, and Trevor was duly given a seat on the plane. (Matthew Rudd)

England stuttered and floundered through their opening two group games in Monterrey, losing to Portugal and drawing goallessly and guilelessly with Morocco with ten men following Ray Wilkins dismissal. Steven missed out on both, but the necessary and demanded changes to the side for the all-or-nothing game against Poland (see photo above) meant that Waddle was dumped from the flank and Trevor was brought in. A breakaway saw Steven and his trusty comrade Stevens combine superbly down the flank to set up Gary Lineker - another Everton team-mate - for the first goal of a dream hat-trick which ensured a second round spot against Paraguay. Trevor played diligently and responsibly down the right flank as England again coasted to a 3-0 win but was less effective against Argentina in the quarter-final as Robson went for all-out flair on the flanks to give England hope of getting back into the game after Diego Maradona, with a combination of lawlessness and genius, had put the Argentinians 2-0 up. John Barnes came on for Steven and promptly destroyed the Argentina defence on his own, but only one goal could be generated and England were out. Trevor, however, seemd to have done enough to be thought of as his country's first choice right midfielder, though much depended on Robson's own tactical approach as to whether Waddle's match-winning, destructive potential or Steven's more dogged and cautionary brand of wideplay would be favoured.

Trevor won his 14th cap in the first game after Mexico, as England sunk to a poor 1-0 friendly defeat in Sweden, and he spent much of the forthcoming qualification campaign for the 1988 European Championships on the bench, starting only the final two games of the group, though these were fine 8-0 and 4-1 wins over Turkey and Yugoslavia respectively. Robson flitted between Steven and Waddle in the preparation period of 1988 leading up to the tournament in Germany, reisting the calls to try out Arsenal's outstanding young winger David Rocastle, and Trevor won his 22nd England cap in the final game before the competition began, a 1-0 win in Lausanne versus Switzerland. Again, much was made of which approach Robson would take, especially as Barnes had now re-established himself as the all-action first choice on the left hand side instead of the more Steven-esque Steve Hodge. When the teams were revealed for the opener against the Republic of Ireland in Stuttgart, it was Waddle who got the nod. England lost 1-0 and Waddle was abject, so for the rescue-mission game against Holland, there was a recall for Steven. England fared better but were outgunned by a great team, and Trevor was unable to get any brand of his game going. He played again in the pride-only third match against the Soviet Union and England lost 3-1, putting in one of their worst ever tournament performances in the process. With three defeats and a lot of explaining and rebuilding to do, Robson wielded the axe on some of his stars and Steven was ditched, along with Glenn Hoddle, Mark Hateley, Peter Reid and Kenny Sansom. Unlike the others, however, Trevor would return. (Matthew Rudd)

It took until May 1989 and the Rous Cup clash against Scotland before Bobby Robson decided to give Trevor Steven another chance in an England shirt. He'd had a reasonable season with Everton, despite the departure to Rangers the previous summer of his erstwhile back-up Stevens, but the two were reunited at Hampden. It was largely a circumstancial recall, with Liverpool and Arsenal players unavailable because they were about to face each other in the delayed end-of-season title decider, so Barnes and Rocastle couldn't play. This meant a switch to the left for Waddle and the return of Steven. England won 2-0 and Trevor played an assured and mature game but Robson still liked Rocastle enough to give him more matches as the qualifying group for the 1990 World Cup resumed. Steven, who also joined Rangers in 1989, seemed to be frozen out long-term but an unfortunate injury to Rocastle in the early part of 1990 gave him a way back. In April 1990 he played superbly in an experimental side which beat Czechoslovakia 4-2 at Wembley, a game which is remembered for sealing the World Cup places of Paul Gascoigne and Steve Bull, but also probably ushered Steven on to the plane for Italy too. He didn't play again in the remaining three warm-up matches yet, despite only featuring in two matches since the 1988 European Championship debacle, Trevor was on his way to the World Cup. Robson had not ruled out switching to a three at the back system in Italy when he felt it necessary, and Steven's presence as an attack-minded player with defensive capability would prove most useful. All that said, Trevor didn't get a kick until the quarter-finals, even though Robson had switched to three centre backs after the first game of the competition. Steven came on for stand-in skipper Terry Butcher to re-create a 4-4-2 formation after Cameroon had gone 2-1 up, and England won 3-2 after extra-time. The exact same substitution occurred in the semi-final against West Germany but Steven was not - surprisingly - ahead of Waddle in the penalty shoot-out pecking order and Waddle's miss sent England out.

Trevor's patience and professionalism earned him a starting role in the soulless third-place play off against Italy (see photo above, challenging Guiseppe Giannini with Steve McMahon lending his support) before a heroic homecoming, although with Graham Taylor taking over the job, it was debatable as to how much of an England career he had left. Taylor discarded Steven from the side until 1991 when he was called up for friendlies against Cameroon and Germany but Taylor had ultimately other preferences, with class-restricted players like Andy Sinton and Tony Daley receiving call-ups ahead of the discarded Steven and Waddle and the injury-prone Barnes. Trevor had joined Waddle at Marseille and Taylor consequently ignored both to much derision from the media, though Steven was luckier in that when an injury crisis hit in the spring of 1992, he was recalled for three friendlies against the short-lived Commonwealth of Independent States, Brazil and Finland, scoring in the former (his first England goal for six years) and was put in the squad for the 1992 European Championships. This was a rotten-to-the-core tournament for England in which Trevor featured twice, and after their exit in the group stages, his international career ended. Steven was a fine talent in his youth but suffered through his more practical, considered approach to wingplay, while his lack of sheer pace often found him wanting. However, he was a reliable, versatile and genuinely skilled player with a welcome no-frills attitude, and England genuinely have only had Beckham before or since who could cross a ball from a touchline with similar accuracy. (Matthew Rudd)