England have had some great players over the last fifty years and it's understandable why the voting on TheFA.com has been close, but varied.  Some great names spring to mind, especially from the World Cup winning team, but my vote goes with a modern day player - one we all know lots about.

For me it would have to be David Beckham.  The thing that I like about him is the way he behaves and conducts himself on and off the pitch.  I just think he's a great role model for football and for young people.  When he's been put in a pressurised situation, nine times out of ten he's dealt with it exceptionally well.  He's a great athlete, he doesn't stop running and he has a wonderful right foot.  He uses it with pinpoint accuracy both when he crosses the ball and delivers a free-kick, he has scored some very important goals and we've seen him do it twice in the last week.  He gets a tick in the box from me.

Talking about footballing greats always gets me thinking about some of the players who I've been lucky enough to play with and against.  The best player I've faced would probably have to be Kenny Dalglish.  He was outstanding, a real quality player.  I played against him at Anfield for Notts County and Sheffield Wednesday.  His movement and athleticism was amazing, everything he did was so bright and sharp - he was different class.


I had rather a different Sunday morning than usual last week.  I was a guest on Sky Sports football show, Goals on Sunday.  They called me up about six or seven weeks ago and asked if I'd be available and was delighted with the invite because it's something I enjoy and I'd like to do more of.  Rob McCaffrey fronts the programme very well alongside Chris Kamara, they make you feel at ease, unlike when Chris was a player.  I came up against him when he was at Leeds and Luton and he was a hard player, no-nonsense.  If there was a ball there to be won he'd go in for it whole-hearted - always committed.

George Burley was the other guest on with me and the show gave us an opportunity to look back at the action and talk about some of the goals and decisions from the games the day before.  We looked closely at a goal that was disallowed on Saturday but was similar to Danny Murphy's free-kick for Liverpool against Leeds a few weeks' previous.  

In the example of last week the forward moved towards the ball as a shot was heading goalward, he was judged to have interfered with the keeper and the offside was given.  At Anfield,  Michael Owen and Steven Gerrard stood still in an offside position in front of the goal, Murphy's shot went directly in and the goal was given. It highlighted one of the game's 'grey-areas' and we have to try and get to a point where we can eliminate that sort of situation, so it's clear and we know exactly what we can and can't do. 


We have a game at home tomorrow as welcome Crewe to Carrow Road and that will be a difficult game.  Since I last wrote, we have lost one and drawn two, the first of those was at home to Watford.  It was a surprise and very disappointing for us but credit must go to Watford they came and worked very hard and went away with the deserved win. 

Last week we visited Preston and performed exceptionally well and got a good point then against Coventry on Tuesday night we played very well the first half but not so well in the second half.  We conceded a penalty just after the break, which rocked us, then we had a man sent off, so as much as we'd have loved the three points that would have put us top of the table, we were satisfied with a point.

Saturday though, it's game on.  Crewe are a good passing team, they play good football and we've got to be on our toes and play the game like we know we can do. And if things go our way, we have the chance to go into the top spot.

Nigel Worthington