The hitmen who didn’t quite cut it at international level

In light of in-form Sunderland striker Darren Bent’s omission from Don Fabio’s latest England squad, Spoiler correspondent Alex Perry has compiled a list of English strikers who failed to sparkle on the international stage. Who knows, Darren, if you keep “banging them in” you may get a chance to avoid joining this list…

Chris Sutton
410 club appearances / 88 goals
1 England appearance / 0 goals

Alan Shearer’s other half in Blackburn Rovers’ deadly strike force, Sutton was the joint top-scorer with Dion Dublin and 18-year-old Michael Owen in the 1997/98 season, and thus a shoo-in for the upcoming World Cup squad, surely? Well, no, because Sutton had decided a few months before that playing for an experimental England ‘B’ team wasn’t for him and Glenn Hoddle decided Sutton’s single goalless cap in an England shirt was enough.

Robbie Fowler
409 club appearances / 172 goals (and counting)
26 England appearances / 8 goals

You couldn’t pick up a newspaper in the nineties without reading about “England’s most natural finisher”, scoring 30-plus goals three seasons on the bounce. Fowler went to Euro ‘96 in the form of his life, but he was never going to unsettle the Shearer/Sheringham partnership that did so well in that tournament.

Persistent injuries, the “Spice Boy” lifestyle and controversial goal celebrations meant Fowler was restricted to just 26 England appearances and just one competitive goal - against Albania in a World Cup qualifier.

Matthew Le Tissier
443 club appearances / 162 goals
8 England appearances / 0 goals

A goal in every two-and-a-half games is an unbelievable return

Kaka isn’t the only one to stick his nose up…

Manchester City are currently nursing their injured pride after Kaka told them where to shove their money, but Mark Hughes aren’t the only ones to have faced rejection. In fact, according to our compilation of of top ten transfer snubs, Sir Alex Ferguson has seen seen more rejections than Danielle Lloyd’s Mensa application…

1. Younes Kaboul (Sunderland, 2008)
Kaboul was part of a £14m bid from Sunderland in the summer that also comprised of Spurs teammates Teemi Tainio, Steed Malbranque and Pascal Chimbonda. While the other three left, Kaboul’s agent explained his client wouldn’t be joining them “even if there was an earthquake.” Kaboul joined Portsmouth instead.

2. Paul Gascoigne (Manchester Utd, 1988)
Back in 1988, Gazza promised Manchester United he would be joining them for a British transfer record fee before their manager Alex Ferguson took a holiday to Malta. While sunning himself, Fergie discovered the England legend had in fact signed a deal with Spurs. Ferguson - without a shred of bitterness - suggested the player was lured to London after Spurs bribed him with a house for his family, and that he would not have experienced so many personal problems under his watchful eye.

3. David Beckham (AC and Internazionale, 2007)
Mr B rejected offers from Italian giants AC and Inter in 2007 when he chose to sign for football powerhouse LA Galaxy instead. Beckham - who advised Kaka to stay in Milan recently - insisted the move would provide him with a greater challenge. And not more money. Honestly.

4. Ronaldinho (Manchester Utd, Chelsea, Manchester City, loads of others)
Ronaldinho famously rejected Manchester Untied in 2003 in favour of a move to Barcelona. A few years later, Chelsea were the second English club to be turned down by the gap-toothed Brazilian. “Not Chelsea or Milan. I want to stay with Barcelona - that is my wish, that is the wish of Ronaldinho,” said Ronnie, who enjoys talking about himself in third person almost as much as Cristiano Ronaldo. Now, of course, he plays for AC Milan, whose chairman Silvio Berlusconi

These men have ample reason to grumble… 

Well, nice one England, you’ve done it again. You’ve wasted another yet another glorious player, and Steven Gerrard is now doomed to spend his autumn years mumbling in pubs about what might have been, alongside Le Tissier, McManaman, Fowler, and nobody’s favourite evangelist, Glenn Hoddle.

Above is The Spoiler’s dream XI of players either mismanaged or completely overlooked by England managers past and present. In goal, Scott Carson is unlikely to recover from the most bizarre and dreadful competitive international debut against Croatia (McClaren’s final insult), Arsenal’s Lee Dixon and Nigel Winterburn were criminally blanked by the likes of Bobby Robson and Terry Venables.

Roma’s crafty dead ball fools Milan, the officials

Many years ago, I had the utter displeasure of watching Matt Le Tissier play his part in sinking the good ship Wimbledon FC by scoring directly from a corner. The lads at Roma, however, have just trumped Guernsey’s best export with the cheeky move they pulled off against Milan on Saturday.

It looks like Simone Perrotta utterly neglects the rules of the game when he runs towards the box straight from the