One of the greats of the 82 World Cup campaign has passed, aged 64 of cancer. I had the pleasure to meet him up in Singapore after the game against China. RIP
He definitely had the ability to crack it at the top level. He could do most things well technically, most notably his passing and finishing from anywhere around the box. And of course the more famous part of his game was his strength, pace and aggression which, combined with his technical attributes, would have made him an effective player player in England. Unfortunately, you never knew when that bad tackle was coming.
Of course his 1981/82 performances and goals were brilliant. In 1985 he was a huge part of what many regarded as being our best ever national team and maintained a place in the side while Kevin Fallon left out Duncan Cole, Steve Sumner and Declan Edge from a game each. I remember seeing him play in 1988 against Young Brazil and in the Olympic games qualifiers and he was next level playing mostly in the centre of midfield.
I read today that he got concussed in the second 1988 Olympic qualifier against Israel and ended his international career. He was also concussed and carried off in the first Israel match at Hindmarsh. He never held back did he?
Moot point, but he definitely would have been good enough to still play in our 1989 World Cup team, which would have been his third World Cup campaign. Moot because he had retired, but he also did not play for Mount Wellington :-). Fallon clearly loved him, it would have been interesting to see if the incoming John Adshead would have picked him.
