With many news outlets struggling for anything of note other than the usual mindless player speculation we get over the international break The Telegraph came up with a very interesting piece that was topical following Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane making his scoring debut as a substitute in England’s qualifying win over Lithuania and then backing that up with his full debut against Italy on Tuesday evening in the friendly.
England is also an interesting topic at the moment because our national side has had it`s best ever start to a season with seven straight wins and they are unbeaten in eight after this international break.
Well it made me smile after years of England heartbreak anyway!
Surely those of you of an England persuasion are smiling as well? Those not, maybe you just have some sympathy and can understand small mercies?
Apparently Tottenham have now drawn level with Aston Villa when it comes to clubs who have provided the most amount of internationals for England national team duty. The last Villa player provided was also involved this international break – Fabian Delph.
Prior to Kane’s debut, Tottenham sat on 72 whilst Villa topped the table with 73.
I have absolutely no intention of doing the research to find out which players exactly have been ‘sponsored’ by each club, nor which players exactly Bolton Wanderers have proffered over the years but I would hope Vital Bolton members can name some of those missing for the younger generation or perhaps some of the more bizarre names from the past who gained international recognition with a few stories about their inclusion. A lot may find it very interesting to hear about players who Bolton nurtured before they went on to England recognition.
Of possible curiosity to England followers is the propensity for particular teams to dominate squad selections based on the year.
I’m sure all England fans are aware of West Ham United’s involvement in the 1966 World Cup winning squad as Sir Alf Ramsey picked Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters – whether they agree West Ham ‘won’ the Cup is a different matter as banterously claimed.
In the 1980’s Everton took centre stage with a number of selections and in year’s since then, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal can all claim to have had a telling domination at points, even though the wider fan would claim it was detrimental as other less media liked, but very in form players were overlooked.
Following the Italy friendly Tottenham would have a claim on that particular crown as well.
Although fans thesedays tend to look at the moment when it comes to all things football, I imagine some will be pleasantly surprised with the full list of clubs – and the numbers provided – when you come across certain names, especially with how the Premier League is now dominated by a few clubs only in the main.
On that front though the list appears to be compiled based on club played for at the time of England debut – a far more interesting look would be which club’s Academies truly produced the internationals of the future.
And if anybody happens to know those particular statistics, feel free to get in touch!
Tottenham – 73
Aston Villa – 73
Liverpool – 67
Everton – 66
Manchester United – 64
Arsenal – 63
Blackburn Rovers – 48
Manchester City – 45
Chelsea – 44
Sheffield Wednesday – 43
West Bromwich Albion – 43
Derby County – 39
West Ham United – 39
Nottingham Forest – 37
Newcastle United – 35
Sheffield United – 34
Wolverhampton Wanderers – 34
Southampton – 33
Leeds United – 31
Middlesborough – 30
Bolton Wanderers – 28
Sunderland – 28
Burnley – 24
Stoke City – 23
Huddersfield Town – 21
Birmingham City – 17
Notts County – 17
Crystal Palace – 16
Leicester City – 16
Portsmouth – 16
QPR – 16
Preston North End – 15
Blackpool – 13
Charlton Athletic – 12
Fulham – 12
Ipswich Town – 12
Luton Town – 10
Millwall – 8
Norwich City – 7
Rangers – 7
Bury – 6
Bradford – 4
Bristol City – 4
Coventry City – 4
Oldham Athletic – 4
Reading – 4
Brighton & Hove Albion – 3
Grimsby Town – 3
Watford – 3
Brentford – 2
Leyton Orient – 2
Celtic – 2
Wigan Athletic – 2
Wimbledon – 2
Barnsley – 1
Bristol Rovers – 1
Cardiff City – 1
Crewe Alexandra – 1
Darlington – 1
Hibernian – 1
Stockport County – 1
Swindon Town – 1
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