I thought Ian Paul might have been close but for his illness.
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Yep, Ian Paul for sure. That said, it was in a different time and it’s just as likely that he would have played out his career at Walsall.
Of course, the other one who really SHOULD have played for England is Alan Buckley. He left for Blues too late in his career but, even then, was their top scorer for a season. If he’d have gone at his peak, he would have scored 20+ goals in Division 1 and played for his country, I’m sure. He was also unlucky in that Peter Taylor was selected for England whilst playing for 3rd division Crystal Palace so there’s no reason why Buck shouldn’t have been given a chance, but I’m guessing we just weren’t as fashionable or as close to London.
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Agree with many of the names mentioned above in terms of potential England internationals who started with us.
One name I’d put into the frame would be the brilliant David Preece. I think he got some England B caps whilst at Luton. 1986-1990 would have roughly been his time. A time dominated by the likes of Robson, Hoddle, Wilkins et al in his position. So a tough midfield to get into. But the likes of Hodge, Webb and Reid got plenty of caps too and I’m not sure our “mini” couldn’t have held his own in that company. Whilst Luton were top flight, maybe just not quite fashionable enough.
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I agree about Dann- he was unlucky that England were (relatively) strong in his position.
I thought Jamie Paterson might get there too- I remember he scored a hat trick for Forest in a televised game and the panel were raving about him. He’s done very nicely for himself though as a Championship player - good luck to him.
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I was fortunate enough to see Alan Clarke, I knew he was going to play for England one day.
I agree Dann should have been called up, I thought his best years were at Palace, not Blues.
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ProfessorPeach,
You’re up late for a Texas resident!
More accurately, professor, I’m up early! I don’t need as much sleep now I’m getting older.
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Bloody hell, I totally forgot about Ricketts. Nothing against the guy either, I’m one of the ones who quite liked him he just completely slipped my mind! 94/95 was my first season (I’m starting to think the club lied to me for those first 10 years btw) so cant talk too much to the pre-Bescot lot but more or less anyone I talk to on the subject will say the brothers Clarke were just unreal talents at our level.
EDIT: Stuart Ryder also would’ve got close if not for that horrendous knee injury.
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I was mainly thinking of young 'uns we’d brought through the ranks, but yes, The Buck was a top player. Not a great era for England, the mid 70s, and a dreadful manager (Revie) for several years. Plenty of poor players selected.
Peter Taylor did play for England when in the third division, I could see why, he was explosive, with a shot in both feet although ultimately he wasn’t top class, but Peter Ward was also capped. Would you have swapped Ward for Buckley? He had one great season, apart from that, not much.
I’m glad The Buck came back, but if he’d stayed at Blues I expect he would have helped shoot them to promotion in 79-80 (which they won without him) as they had an excellent defence and midfield, but weren’t great at scoring.
Once of the most annoying things about Allan Clarke’s time with us was that despite his clear brilliance he had to wait until he joined Fulham to get international recognition (in the England Under 23 team). It was only a matter of a few months after leaving us he was picked and banging in 4 goals against Wales.
And he went to Fulham for a pittance…but that remains the story of how we do our transfer dealings.
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Good to know we were rubbish at transfers even back then. 
We sold Doug Lishman to The Arse for £10,500 in 1948, that sounds like a decent fee for the time, but I don’t really know if it was or not.
£3,550 for Bert Williams, £4,000 for Johnny Hancocks, I’ve no idea if those were good fees at the time.
Bert and John played for England, Doug didn’t. All of them won the title with their respective clubs. What a team we’d have had in the 40s and 50s if we’d kept them.
I used to live in your time zone (Puebla, Mexico) & if I was up at that hour it meant that I was in a club!
Happy times…
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West Ham were linked with Rico last summer. They could be a good option for him, especially if they qualify for Europe again.
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ProfessorPeach,
I used to live in your time zone (Puebla, Mexico) & if I was up at that hour it meant that I was in a club!
Happy times…
Yes. Have done that myself many times
FYI, Mexico and Texas have different time zones.
You sure? Right now it’s 13:23 in Puebla & 13:23 in Dallas (both in the Central Time Zone). Do you live in El Paso?
You’re right of course. I had a brain fart obviously!
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Thought Deeney was unlucky not to get capped at some point between 2015-18 as he was a decent targetman forward in prem around that period and no worse than likes of Ings and Calvert-Lewin who were regulars in the squad last few seasons.
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At the end of the day if Steve Bull and David Nugent can get a call up… To be fair, the fact Deeney didn’t get a call up back then just goes to show that who you score them for still counts for at least as much as how many you score when it comes to England selection. A strange policy to be sure.
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Rico is actually being linked up here as it happens.
Newcastle need one, if not two left-backs, although Matt Targett has been very good, he got torn a new one at Man City last week (as many visiting defenders do obviously).
Man City have been awesome this season, everything revolves around DeBruyne. I wish he was English.
Looking at it, Newcastle is probably the more realistic destination, especially if it were between them and West Ham. Given that Cresswell is established as their regular fullback and Newcastle only really have Targett in on loan, I couldn’t see the Hammers forking out what it would take to get Rico when they need strengthening elsewhere.
Ironically, it’s probably between those two players (Rico and Cresswell) as to who will be the next left back/wing back to be called up behind Chilwell, Shaw and Trippier