2) Kieran Richardson
Richardson was the architecht of an escape from relegation so ridiculous and improbable for West Bromwich Albion in 2004/05 that Steve McQueen should play him in the movie.
The decision to call him up just months after this was equally as improbably and ridiculous and met with some derision in the press but that was quickly erased from memory when after two minutes Richardson put England ahead against the USA before curling a free-kick into the top corner in the second half.
1) Rickie Lambert
Lambert’s call-up to the England squad gave welcome to such media fawning and patronising over a ‘working class hero’ who had somehow made it to the top that you’d think it was more the plot of that fabled footballing trilogy ‘Goal’ than a run of the mill English striker who is semi-decent.
But no! The media wanted you to believe this was a real-life Santiago Munez – just ignore that he already had 46 goals in his previous 86 games and was actually quite alright. Shhhh.
But whatever the narrative, debuts don’t get much more sweet than a winning goal in the dying seconds against Scotland with your first touch in international football, after just coming on as a substitute.
William Wallace, Alex Salmond your boys took one hell…etc.