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To many, Keith Curle cut an unlikely figure as an international defender, steeped as he was in the upbringings of lower division gluepot pitches and the rather unconventional nature of the Crazy Gang of Wimbledon. Curle had plied his trade at the two Bristol clubs, Torquay and Reading, wracking up over 200 league appearances over 9 seasons with those four clubs, before his move to the Dons in October 1988, just before his 25th birthday, for the not insignificant sum of half a million pounds. Even by the selection criteria deployed by England coach Graham Taylor, to which critics responded with some serious headscratching, Curle seemed an odd choice when he came in for his debut at the age of 28, by now as an uncompromising central defender with Manchester City following his move from Wimbledon in August 1991, for a then British record fee for a defender of £2,500,000.
Taylor threw on him on as a sub in a friendly in the shortlived CIS (the photo above is during the game) in April 1992 and a month later, he started another friendly, this time in Hungary, before the well-documented right back crisis prior to the 1992 European Championships guaranteed him not just a squad berth, but a place in the starting line-up as England opened the tournament with a terrifically dull 0-0 draw with Denmark, who remarkably went on to win the trophy after their late call-up at the expense of the war torn Yugoslavia. Curle was unperturbed but clearly unfamiliar, and didn't feature in the remaining two group matches - the right back spot bizarrely being filled by left midfielder Andy Sinton - which saw England's wimpish exit. He was not asked back afterwards. (Matthew Rudd)
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