Underappreciated by your country

“Technical players in the Eighties were never appreciated because back then it was all about crunching tackles, spirit and determination. It was all about the likes of Peter Reid and the aggressive footballer. That’s what English football was then because you were allowed to do that. Players like Glen Hoddle and Chris Waddle and myself definitely suffered because that’s not the way we played the game. “I got 79 caps for England and went to two World Cups, but the perception that the fans had of me — as being inconsistent — was because of the nature of the game itself. And not just from the fan’s perspective, but it’s also to do with the style of English football. When George Graham was at Arsenal, they won the league playing that way, and that was at the highest level of English club football. That’s what the [English] game was. “There were always the technical players but they were classed as mavericks and didn’t fit the norm, so on our day we may have done something, but we were never going to be especially consistent because England didn’t consistently play the type of game that got the best out of players like myself. “That’s why it suited me playing for Liverpool, where I was very consistent, while for England I wasn’t. Former national manager Bobby Robson called me the greatest enigma of his career but it doesn’t matter who the England manager was, this is just how football was and Robson was brought up in the 1950s and 1960s. But look at someone like Glenn Hoddle when he became the manager — England started to play a different kind of football. In the last 15 years English football has changed because of the influx of foreign players and managers, and as a result, what has become more appreciated is the technical aspect of the game. “Football changed in Paul Scholes’ era and the technical aspect of the game became much more important, so Scholes was revered when he playing for England as well as at club level. “England got to the semi-final in 1990 and were competitive, so it’s not a question of right or wrong, but what style suits some kind of players.”