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One of the bravest defenders at club level seen in English football in recent times, Graham Roberts' chance for England came after two stunning seasons with Tottenham Hotspur which prompted Bobby Robson to take a sly look at the former non-league defender. Robson put Roberts in the team for the 1983 Home Internationals, the first being an inauspicious goalless draw with Northern Ireland in Belfast, the second a far more satisfactory 2-0 win over Scotland at Wembley. Roberts didn't feature on the subsequent summer tour of Australia, however, and Robson wouldn't consider him for the crucial qualifiers for the 1984 European Championships which awaited England upon their return.
With England's hopes of a place in the finals duly scuppered by a 1-0 Wembley defeat against Denmark, Robson put Graham back in the team for a friendly in Paris against France (see photo above), but England's 2-0 defeat suggested that more work needed to be done on locating the correct personnel for the defence. The England manager put Roberts through two more Home International contests - a 1-0 home win over Northern Ireland and a 1-1 draw at Hampden against Scotland - and then kept him in place for a 2-0 friendly defeat against the USSR, shortly after Graham had been Spurs' hero with a late equaliser as they clinched that season's UEFA Cup. No heroics came for England though as Robson had seen enough and looked elsewhere as the World Cup qualification campaign loomed. (Matthew Rudd)
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