The ND Draft: England in the 1980s (the XIs)
Vote for the winning team @nessundormapod
These are the teams we picked during our England 1980s draft. Yep, it was hard going towards the end – not because the players were crap*, but because much of their best work was done in the 1970s or the 1990s.
* Okay, some of the players were crap
Rob Smyth’s XI
Martyn Ramsay’s XI
Gary Naylor’s XI
What draft should we do next? Get in touch @nessundormapod or by emailing nessundorma@substack.com
Surprised there was no mention - literally no mention - of Sammy Lee or Gary Mabbutt. The bigger underlying point here is, was England an unusually stable team in the 1980s? Did managers pick too much on reputation? The difficulties you had once you get outside the first and second XIs suggests there is an unusually small pool to choose from.