Top Ten England Comebacks

[notsosilentbob]

1. Alan Ball 1975
Like others from the '66 squad, Ball was seen as surplus to requirements when Don Revie took over as England manager. However a poor run of results led to his recall against West Germany for a friendly in 1975, where he and Alan Hudson outplayed the World Champions in midfield as England ran out comfortable 2-0 winners. He would earn seven more caps.

2. Mick O'Grady 1969
What do you need to do to get a run in the England side? The midfielder scored two in his first match against Northern Ireland in 1962, only to be dropped and not heard of again until 1969 when he was recalled against France. Once more he scored, but was never called up again!

3. Ian Callaghan 1977
The Liverpool winger had last played for England eleven years earlier at the start of the 1966 World Cup campaign, but was brought back for England by new manager Ron Greenwood for a match with Switzerland when he built his team around Liverpool players - even giving Tommy Smith a cap. He won one more cap against Luxembourg.

4. Paul Gascoigne 1992
Few comebacks have been as keenly anticipated. It had been twenty months since Gazza had pulled on an England shirt due to his cruciate knee ligament injury (the metatarsal of its day) and his absence was particularly felt after the tepid performances in the European Championships. That said, his performance in the 1-1 home draw with Norway was less memorable than his response to a pre-match question whether he had a message for Norway. " Yeah, f*** off Norway, " said the Geordie with a touch of the Oscar Wilde about him.

5. Jimmy Greaves 1967
An untimely injury denied him a place in England's World Cup winning side and like Beckham it was nearly a year before Greaves returned - in time for England to lose their first game since their '66 triumph against Scotland. He would win just two more caps.

6. Stuart Pearce 1999
Fan-favourite 'Psycho' was shunned by Glenn Hoddle preferring the more sophisticated game of Graeme le Saux, but a man who knew a thing or two about passion, new manager Kevin Keegan, brought him back into the side for the European Championship qualifiers against Luxembourg and Poland. England kept clean sheets in both games.

7. Gordon Cowans 1990
Cowans had picked up nine caps with England under Bobby Robson but had spent four years out of contention until surprisingly being brought back by Graham Taylor for a tricky qualifier in Ireland. In fairness Cowans had performed well for Taylor at Aston Villa the year earlier as they finished second in the league, but the fact that he was preferred to Gascoigne meant fans and media alike began questioning the manager's judgment and ended his honeymoon era in charge.

8. Lee Dixon 1999
Despite being part of Arsenal's best ever back four, Dixon's 21st cap against San Marino in Graham Taylor's last game was his last for six years before Howard Wilkinson's brief tenure in chance when he decided to have a look at the 34-year-old in a friendly against France.

9. Cyrille Regis 1987
Regis was unfortunate not to win more caps when in his pomp at West Bromwich Albion in the late 1970s and early 1980s as Ron Greenwood preferred the likes of Paul Mariner and Tony Woodcock. Five years after he had last put on an England shirt he won his fifth and final cap as a substitute in England's 8-0 victory over Turkey in the same year he led from the front as Coventry won the FA Cup.

And from the world of cricket:

10. Ian Botham 1986
After being suspended by the ECB for admitting to have smoked cannabis, Beefy returned to take a wicket against New Zealand with his first wicket. He went on to play a leading role as England retained the Ashes on Australian soil later that year. They don't make heroes like that anymore. Or do they Mr Beckham?

[Detomah]

What? No Mr Beckham in there?