As Fabio Capello prepares to axe seven stars from his World Cup plans Ray Stewart will experience painful memories of the moment Jock Stein broke his heart.

“Missing the World Cup was like giving the game up through injury,” the West Ham legend admitted, recalling how he was left out of Scotland’s 1982 World Cup squad.

“Nothing can prepare you for being left out, people in football don’t like failure. It’s egg in your face if you are left out anytime, even more so when it’s a World Cup squad.”

Stewart had been a regular in Jock Stein’s World Cup squad in the 1982 campaign as Scotland qualified along with Northern Ireland out of a group that also contained Portugal, Sweden and Israel.

As a regular in the West Ham side and approaching his 23rd birthday his international career was developing nicely and he played in Scotland’s final two qualifiers away to Northern Ireland, when qualification was clinched, and the dead rubber against Portugal in Lisbon.

At the end of the season a 24 man squad was announced for the British Championships which would be trimmed down to 22 to travel to the World Cup.

Stewart played in the midweek win over Northern Ireland but before the Saturday fixture with England he received the news that every player was dreading.

“Before the match with England Jock just said ‘It’s easier to tell the lads who aren’t going’ and that was it,” the full-back recalled. “He said ‘Tommy Burns and Ray Stewart aren’t going’.

“Everyone else in the squad came up and said unlucky, sorry to hear it and all that but they really weren’t giving two hoots as long as they were going

“It was hard for me and Tommy Burns to take, we tried to be professional and get on with it but people were asking us what had happened but we just packed our bags and left.

“We didn’t even sit and watch the game with England, it was sad.

“That period will live with me forever because I never got to a World Cup, it’s a horrible memory, the worst thing that ever happened to me in my career.

“Being left out at the last minute was soul destroying.”

Travel arrangements are already in place for the players left out of Capello’s squad, in 1982 Stewart and Burns packed their bags and drove off with their anger and disappointment.

After preparing for the biggest event of his career the full-back had to look on from a distance as Scotland performed their usual heroic failure by losing out on qualification on goal difference from a group that contained New Zealand, Brazil and the USSR.

In those days only five substitutes were selected with Davie Provan of Celtic and Scotland’s Player of the Year Paul Sturrock not even making the bench for any of the three matches.

Watching players that he had spent much of the season playing with and against involved in the game’s greatest stage brought bitter sweet memories for Stewart.

“I watched the tournament in goodness and badness,” he added. “Obviously being Scottish through and through I wanted the team to do well but at times you want to see them fail.

“When you’re not in the team, you might want them to win but play badly.

“I was always professional, I always wanted my team to win but when you’re not playing you don’t want them to do too well.

“Some players can go to a World Cup and not get a game but I would rather have gone even if I had never got on the bench.

“I’d have been able to say that I’d been to a World Cup, to do that would be an experience that you’d never forget, I’ll live with that forever.

“After that summer I got on with my game at West Ham, that was my bread and butter. I could easily have sulked and turned away and been disappointed by everything to do with football but you have to move on.

“I had a great time at West Ham, a few seasons later I was in the 86 team that finished third in the league but whenever people talk about World Cups I think back to the days that I nearly got there.”

Stewart is still a regular visitor to Upton Park and treated as a hero for his 12 years service in the east end.

Winning the 1980 FA Cup Final was the highlight of his time at the club, gaining the unique distinction of being the only non-Englishman to have played in any of the club’s three FA Cup winning teams.

Despite playing entirely at right-back Stewart was the regular penalty taker throughout his time at the club and rarely made a mistake from 12 yards out.

England have crashed out of three World Cup Finals on penalties with the modest Stewart offering a novel solution to Capello ahead of the flight to South Africa.

“The only advise that I could give would be to employ me for a month!” he joked. “But I’m not sure if they’d want a Jock helping them.

“You can prepare as much as you like for penalties but other things can happen, you can hit your best ever penalty and the goalie will pull off a save.

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“I’d normally blast my penalties but in the last minute of a League Cup Final against Liverpool at Wembley I changed from my usual routine. Ray Clemence dived one way and I just rolled it into the other corner.

“I’d practise my penalties a lot and that had a part in my success with them. I was always confident. If you’re confident it doesn’t matter who the goalie is you’ll stick them away.

“After training I’d practise penalties by placing cones a bit less than a yard inside the post, I didn’t want to practise against a goalkeeper. I felt that was important, when I took my penalties I didn’t think about the goalie.

“People ask me about the penalty at Wembley but that didn’t mean so much because we lost in the replay against Liverpool.

“When we won the FA Cup I scored the winning goal against Aston Villa, it was against Jimmy Rimmer and the penalty took us through and we went on to lift the cup.”

After being left out of the 1982 World Cup squad Stewart made just one more appearance under Jock Stein but collected three more caps in the 1986/87 season with Andy Roxburgh in charge, taking his total of international caps to ten.

INTERVIEW COURTESY OF JOE MCHUGH at ‘VIDEO CELTS’

We have a strong and, I think, unfounded opinion that footballers need to have ‘made it’ by a certain age; and that age keeps reducing due to players like Lionel Messi.

Rinus Michels’ model for Dutch youth development is certainly a marker that this country would do well to reference (even more so considering Sunday’s World Cup exit) because the line between the professional and amateur game is much finer in Holland. Van Gaal’s tweaking of Michels’ model has resulted in the KNVB funding more age group overseers, technical coordinators and more qualified coaches than ever before – all in the amateur game. The repercussion of such a support system is a stance voiced by Arnold Muhren (former Holland international and Ajax coach) that ‘a player can go from non-league and become a professional.’

The rule to becoming a professional player is, invariably, being part of an academy from as young an age as 7. The glaring exception in this country that proves the rule is Ian Wright; though failing to impress in trials at Southend and Brighton it was Crystal Palace scout, Pete Prentice, who happened to see Wright playing in a local Sunday League match and invited him for a trial at Selhurst Park. 239 league goals later and I think it’s fair to say Wright knew how to play his position.

My argument isn’t that any Sunday league footballer can make the grade at Arsenal; it’s more that, in our current system, the chasm between amateur and professional football is positively gargantuan. There are definitely hundreds of very talented players who, after being released in their teens, have only local amateur clubs to join because they are the latest victims of the pro football scrapheap, without any hand to guide them. This is the biggest malpractice in our game; Dutch professional teams are obligated to find released players suitable amateur clubs by an agreement with the KNVB (in Holland the amateur game is highly coordinated, regulated and reviewed – when an amateur club can boast over 70 teams with qualified coaches from the under 6s all the way through to the first team, like OJC Rosmalen, we can see how the gap between professional and non-professional football has become much finer).

This only goes so far in explaining singularities like Ian Wright. A further mystery is the likes of Di Natale, Luca Toni and Arshavin who all arrived on the international scene relatively late and completely unannounced. Luca Toni, now 33, was a journeyman of Serie B and Serie C1 before signing for Palermo (then an ambitious Serie B outfit) in 2003. 30 goals in his debut season brought promotion and 21 goals the following year, his first in Serie A, brought acclaim. For Fiorentina he scored 33 goals and for Bayern Munich an incredible 39 goals in his debut seasons for the respective clubs. Luca Toni went from obscurity to being one of the most prolific goal scorers in Europe for five years (and this all happened after the age of 25 in the topflight). Di Natale just had his most successful year ever by netting 29 goals for Udinese and finishing as top scorer in Serie A and he is 32 years old. Arshavin, now 29, is another player who was brought to the global media’s attention in 2008 by Zenit’s UEFA Cup triumph and Russia’s European Championship semi final run.

These players prove that talent does not run on a time-line. Diego Forlan was laughed at by many English fans yet he’s still in South Africa and could very feasibly be playing in a World Cup semi final – twice European Golden Boot winner with two different clubs in Spain is no fluke either. There are multiple reasons for his failure to impress in England and his subsequent success in Spain (the players around him, the coaches, his role in the team, the playing environment, maturity etc the list could go on) and he was lucky enough – and determined enough – to strike a balance at the right time.

This is why when fans and pundits dismiss 21, 22, 23 and even 24 year olds as ‘not having what it takes’ I am left wondering why, as a people, we look to castigate before we look to encourage. Unlike the question of late bloomers, this is a simpler answer: it is always easier to destroy something than it is to create. The same can be said for talent.

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Click on image below to see the BRAZILIAN babes at the World Cup

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Another day, another manager campaigning for an English winter break. Sir Alex Ferguson is one of a growing group who believe that having a couple of weeks off around Christmas time will have a direct benefit on the England team, and that the reason that we did badly in the World Cup is because our players play too much continuous domestic football between August and May.

So, youth teams packed with European imports is not the problem. A lack of qualified English coaches working with kids at grass roots is not the problem. The fact that so many coaches would rather take a cheap foreign import than risk a plucky English youth team graduate is not the problem. No, it’s clearly too much Premier League football.

This coming season, Premier League teams will be playing 5 games in the 20 days between the 18th of December and the 7th of January. That doesn’t sound like too many to me, but if the break did come in these games will still need to be played. So presumably they would have to be arranged on weekdays before or after December, which simply means fixture congestion at different times. The only way a break would make a difference is if the number of games played was lessened and the Premier League was reduced to 18 teams, which I think is a terrible idea.

Here’s a thought Sir Alex, why don’t you look at fixture congestion elsewhere, why not suggest that the Champions League alter the structure of their competition? The group stages and the two legged knock-out games mean that to get to the final Man Utd would need to play an extra 13 fixtures in a season. Of course, the revenue associated with the Champions League means that he wouldn’t question the logic of that, but its fine for the Premier League to alter for him, I mean, sorry, the England team.

The tradition of the Boxing Day and New Year fixtures is something that I and I’m sure many others enjoy and would be reluctant to lose. There are many other things that have contributed to our poor World Cup showing, so lets sort those out first before we start tampering with our domestic league structure.

Written By Karl Sears

Click on image to see a gallery of the BEST BABES at the World Cup this summer

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A mid-week game at Upton Park in May saw the assembled crowd witness a peculiar case of déjà vu. Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and John Terry were among those sporting West Ham’s claret and blue strip that evening. These PL stars and countless others were in attendance for Tony Carr’s testimonial. The club’s Director of Youth Development was granted this special accolade having been associated with the club for over 40 years. It was a proud moment for a man who has tutored stars such as Michael Carrick, Jermaine Defoe, Glen Johnson and many more. Carr’s diligent and tireless work has seen a new generation of youngsters emerge at Upton Park. But with a change in manager and an eventful summer transfer window what are the prospects of James Tomkins, Jack Collison and Zavon Hines continuing their progression this season?

Since witnessing his own playing career prematurely ended by injury Tony Carr has been a constant presence at West Ham. His dedication to grass-roots football and development of young talent, capable of reaching the highest level of the game is an achievement that the club, its fans and Carr himself are rightly proud of. It is a source of frustration that many of the gifted players developed at West Ham went on to depart the club despite commanding huge transfer fees. The BBC dubbed Carr the ‘youth coach who had nurtured £80 million of talent’ in the past decade. As the next generation of young starlets reach maturity are their chances of regularly making the club’s first XI this season in doubt?

Under Avram Grant the club have made five summer signings thereby potentially restricting the playing chances of the recent Academy graduates. Tal Ben Haim and Winston Reid have been signed to boost the manager’s defensive options. This may impinge on the development of Basildon born James Tomkins who was once described by Gianfranco Zola as ‘my JT.’ The youngster made a few untimely errors last season but is positionally intelligent and has aerial strength. Fans would not wish to see his professional development falter.

The acquisition of Pablo Barrera and possible loan signing of Miralem Sulejmani may scupper the playing time of Junior Stanislas and Freddie Sears. Local lad, Sears is one player who has regressed since scoring on his PL debut against Blackburn in 2008. This match winning cameo would be hard to replicate but first team chances have not been forthcoming for the quick forward. Loan spells at Crystal Palace and Coventry City saw him employed sporadically and invariably out of position. How West Ham handle his development over the next season will be critical to his future prospects at the club.

Nonetheless recent Academy graduates including Zavon Hines and Jack Collison have forced their way into the first team picture at West Ham. Currently nursing a knee injury, Collison in particular has shown exemplary qualities, inviting comparisons with Lampard and Carrick. Used on the left of midfield but a strong candidate for a more central role, Collison is an elegant ball player, has a range of passing and goes for goal after commonly finding space on the edge of the box. The player showed dignity and character when returning to the field so soon after the tragic death of his father last year.

It is a convention that when a player or manager joins a new club there is the obligatory talk of a great history and traditions. Avram Grant made no departure from this predictable formula and must manage his youngsters with care. In the traditions of the club Academy graduates should be granted playing time. A balance needs to be struck between youth and experience but Grant will be mindful of not hindering the players who have all received the expert guidance of Carr. Anthony Edgar, cousin of Defoe, who has impressed in pre-season is proof that the production line keeps on coming at the Boleyn Ground.

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Wolves midfielder David Jones scored one of the more inventive goals of the Premier League weekend. From a free kick Jones received the ball from Karl Henry and proceeded to flick the ball up before volleying it past a helpless Thomas Sorensen in the Stoke net. But what are the top ten greatest free kicks English football has seen? Here in no particular order is a list of ten of the best;

Cristiano Ronaldo vs Portsmouth

One of the most famous free kicks in recent years, Ronaldo hits the ball in his patented style and thumps the ball past David James. Ronaldo takes his signature pose and straight run up and hits the ball in a way no one else can.

Paul Gascoigne vs Arsenal

Gascoigne scores a wonderful free-kick from well outside the area in a 1991 FA Cup semi final against Arsenal. Gazza takes a run-up before smashing an effort into the top left-hand corner, David Seaman got a hand to it but was left with no chance of saving a goal.

Alan Shearer vs West Brom

The legendary Newcastle striker scores an almost impossible goal. Taking a free kick from inside the area after a pass back the whole West Brom team stands on the line. This is not a problem for Shearer though, as he unleashes a ferocious drive that somehow flys into the net.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gg8Ho56uic&feature=related

Matt Le Tissier vs Wimbledon

The man with perhaps the greatest collection of spectacular goals in English football, Le Tissier in a pre-cursor to David Jones, flicks the ball up before volleying the ball perfectly into the top corner.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtJeN96-6fw&feature=related

Stuart Pearce vs Man Utd

Stuart Pearce is perhaps not the first person one might think of when thinking about great goals, but this free kick against Man Utd showed his capabilities. Pearce smashes a thunderous effort from miles out into the United net.

Thierry Henry vs Charlton

The Gunners hero scored some superb goals at Arsenal, and this is one of his best. From a few yards outside the area the Frenchman effortlessly curls the ball into the left hand corner.

Robin van Persie vs Sunderland

The Dutchman is renowned for his deadly left foot, and against Sunderland he hits an absolute howitzer past Craig Gordon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eBhqI7XN04

Gianfranco Zola vs Spurs

The diminutive Italian is one of Chelsea’s all time greats, displaying sublime skills in his time at Stamford Bridge. Here he shows all his talent by curling the ball beautifully right into the top corner.

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Steven Gerrard vs Aston Villa

The Liverpool captain does it for his side again. In the dying moments of the match he hits a glorious free kick into the Villa net to win the game for Liverpool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y68wuCeWHA&feature=related

Ernie Hunt vs Everton

Ernie Hunt is not one of the most glamorous names in English football history, but in 1970 he scored a sensational free kick against Everton. Willie Carr flicked the ball up for Hunt who volleyed home in a totally unique free kick. The move would be banned by the end of the season.

Do you agree? What free kicks would you like to have seen in the list?

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Wigan Athletic have accepted an improved offer from Birmingham City for Charles N’Zogbia.

The Blues saw an initial bid turned down last week after being linked with a move for the France midfielder throughout the summer break.

The 24-year-old former Newcastle United player has featured in two of the Latics’ three games this season but now looks set to be on his way out of the DW Stadium.

N’Zogbia joined Wigan from Newcastle in January 2009 for a fee of £6million.

“Wigan Athletic can confirm that they have accepted a much improved offer from Birmingham City for France winger Charles N’Zogbia, which has now met the club’s valuation,” confirmed a club statement.

“The player has now been given permission to speak with Birmingham.”

Earlier in the week, Latics boss Roberto Martinez had criticised Birmingham for going public with their interest in N’Zogbia.

“The transfer window brings you that distraction but when you get other managers talking about your players, that is really disappointing,” he said in a clear swipe at Blues counterpart Alex McLeish.

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“I don’t know the reason behind it, whether it is to get the fans’ hopes high in your football club, I don’t know.”

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Birmingham City midfielder Lee Bowyer has issued an apology following a foul-mouthed rant towards a West Bromwich Albion supporter during Saturday's 3-1 defeat at The Hawthorns.

Bowyer exchanged words with a female Baggies supporter while taking his seat in the dugout following a 68th minute substitution during the local derby.

Sandra Cox, who was watching with her seven-year-old grandson, accused the 33-year-old midfielder of verbally abusing her and immediately reported Bowyer to the matchday stewards.

The flashpoint occurred moments after Blues boss Alex McLeish had substituted Bowyer after he was booked for a dangerous tackle on Gabriel Tamas.

"It was appalling, especially with my grandson sitting next to me," said Mrs Cox."It's terrible to hear such bad language.

"We sit there, in the family enclosure, so Luke doesn't have to hear it, but it's even worse because you hear all the players."

West Brom officials admitted they were in receipt of a complaint but a spokesperson has revealed that they believe the matter is now closed following a swift apology from Bowyer.

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"A lady complained straight away to one of our senior stewards that she had been verbally abused, but the club are also aware that Lee Bowyer then made a complete and profuse apology to her," said the spokesperson.

"That is the end of the matter as far as West Bromwich Albion are concerned."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

Wigan Athletic manager Roberto Martinez believes the rise of player power is a direct consequence of the riches now on offer in the Premier League.

The Spaniard has been an interested onlooker as the Wayne Rooney saga at Manchester United has unfolded in recent days.

The England striker has cited a lack of ambition for his desire to leave Old Trafford and has immediately called a halt to discussions over a new contract.

United must decide whether to cash in on their prize asset in January or risk losing him for either reduced fee or nothing at all.

That conundrum is one which comes as no surprise to Martinez.

"I think that's the price of having such a high-profile league. The Barclays Premier League has got that status around the world, the players are well known, they are becoming more than footballers," he explained.

"But I think Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson have got enough experience and importance and everything that goes with it to deal with the situation."

He continued:"We experienced that first hand in the last two windows and it's something that is part of the modern game.

"It's not something that has developed over the last month, or because of this situation.

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"It's happened in the past with high-profile cases, with low-profile cases, and it will happen in the next window and in the future. As I see it, it's the price we have to pay for having such a high-profile competition.

"The most important thing is the football clubs, the fans and the loyalty between those two. Agents are a must in modern football and, like everything, you've got very good ones and very bad ones."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

If this weeks headlines are anything to go by, Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini, is on borrowed time. The fascination surrounding the situation at Eastlands isn’t surprising given the clubs rise to prominence. But if Mancini is shown the door, it can only be a victory for the media, and not for Man City fans.

A combination of consecutive defeats, player unrest and public laundry-airing, have given the savvy English press little option but to report on the ‘crisis’ at City which has inevitable led them to the conclusion that it’s time to bring in a new manager.

But where has this perceived crisis left Mancini’s men? After ten games they sit in fourth place and only three points behind their fierce rivals Manchester United. Not bad for a club facing disaster.

You also have to consider reasons why results have not been as they would have liked recently. At one stage this season City could only field three fit orthodox defenders. New signings Jerome Boateng and Alexsander Kolarov have both been out whilst Joleon Lescott, Wayne Bridge and Kolo Toure have all been unavailable at some point or other.

This is by no means an excuse. A club with a squad the size of City’s should cope with such injuries, but it does have an impact. Dedryck Boyata has done well when called upon, but his inexperience shone through in that reversal against Arsenal where he was given his marching orders early on.

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Admittedly, the Italian manager doesn’t help himself. He has openly shown his displeasure at elements of the English game which he wants to eradicate and at times it may help to keep such issues in  the changing rooms.

But Mancini himself is learning to cope with life as a Premier League manager. He will make mistakes and each time he will learn from them, just as his players would have done against Wolves at the weekend.

You cannot win titles over night and Mancini will know that. Given time results like the one against Wolves will become less frequent and as soon as one trophy comes, you can imagine a London bus scenario.

The biggest threat surrounding City at the moment is not whether Mancini can deliver silverware, his reputation proves he can, but whether the owner, Sheikh Mansour, crumbles under the pressure of the British tabloids.

Once City start winning again and another manager finds himself in the medias bad-books, Mancini will become yesterdays fish and chip paper and he can go on plotting his own Italian assault on the Premier League .

But for now, the club must ignore the calls for a change of management and concentrate on letting Mancini take charge of a title winning side. In his own way.

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‘Money is a superfluous entity’ declares Jose Enrique, the Newcastle United left back, whose performances this season have been solid and consistent. His nickname is ‘the bull’ and it is suitably apt due to his tendency to use his physical attributes when defending and rushing forward. He is no bull in a china shop though, he exudes confidence and composure that only a Spaniard possesses. By using the ball simply and effectively he has come to epitomise a Newcastle side that has bought shrewdly in the transfer market over the last few seasons. This contrasts sharply against the nostalgic times that saw an exuberance on Tyne Side with money being lavished on players such as Alan Shearer, David Ginola, Michael Owen and Albert Luque to name but a few.

The starting side that dispatched Sunderland last weekend with consummate ease, cost in total and roughly, a thrifty £35 million with the most expensive midfield player on the bench in the form of Alan Smith who cost £6 million. In a socially turbulent financial state that this country presently finds itself, Newcastle offer a glimpse at what can be realised given time and structural change.

It is as though previous regimes were caught up in the act of purchasing the brand and detailing their image through these players, but got caught up in the relentless demands for success and coupled with this was the lack of it, causing the downfall of this ideology. Newcastle’s position now couldn’t be more disparate, they’ve resigned those expensive fashionable garments to the far reaches of the wardrobe, opting instead to sift through well worn garments in order to portray a character, ideal and ultimately, save the coppers.

Enrique claims that, “We haven’t signed too many players or big-name players, look at Sunderland – they have spent a lot of money and we outclassed them 5-1.” To compensate for the lack of big money signings Enrique believes that another quality has given them their ability to succeed and this is the group camaraderie: “When new players come in and have been here for a month or so, it feels like two years because they are made so welcome. It’s a really important quality.”

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These well worn garments are certainly returning what was paid for them and more so when you observe the likes of Manchester City buying brand name after brand name. These ostentatious displays of wealth, although gaining most tangible things, can’t obtain character and understanding; this requires a history together, to go through adversities and elations as one unit rather than one individual. Enrique recognizes this invaluable trait in saying that, “Most of us have been together for three seasons now so it is almost a second nature when we look up to each other for a pass.”

Chris Hughton must take a vast amount of credit for managing these players and drawing their abilities out into the open, unrestrained and playing for each other. We all remember the embarrassing fight between Kieron Dyer and Lee Bowyer which exemplified the divisions inherent within the team at the time. It all goes some way towards dispelling the myth that you have to spend big in order to win big, I’m not saying Newcastle will win anything this year but it is a promising foundation on which to build.

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