Dave Smith

When Nottingham Forest were relegated from the Premier League in 1993, Stuart Pearce had one immediate concern. He had only recently become England captain and was terrified that playing in the second tier might cost him his place in the national team. So one of the first things he did was ring England manager Graham Taylor and ask him directly whether playing First Division football would stop him being selected. Pearce had been at Forest for eight years and had no desire to leave. But England always came first. “If he would have said no, I would have put in a transfer request in to Nottingham Forest that day.” “I have to leave because I want to play for my country.” For Pearce, representing England was always “something above playing for his club.” Taylor told him that relegation would not stop him being selected, so Pearce stayed at Forest. But England then failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup, Taylor resigned and Terry Venables took over. By then Pearce was into his thirties, had more than 60 England caps and had been the country’s first-choice left-back for years. Venables told him that was changing. Graeme Le Saux was going to be his left-back. Pearce later remembered exactly what he thought Venables expected him to do. “He expected me to retire from international football.” Pearce had no intention of doing that. “Fine, but if you think I’m good enough, I’ll stay with the squad and help him.” Le Saux made his England debut against Denmark at Wembley in March 1994. Before the game, Venables named the team and Pearce did something Le Saux never forgot. “I was given the shirt by Stuart Pearce at the training ground after Terry Venables had named his team.” Pearce handed the number three shirt to the man who had replaced him and told him he had earned it. “It is fair to say that he is pretty intimidating, but he told me that I deserved it on merit and he was really gracious.” “It made a huge difference to me.” Pearce was prepared to sit on the bench, sit in the stand or simply be around the squad if Venables still thought he could contribute. Pearce had spent part of his early career working as an electrician while playing non-league football for Wealdstone. He had never grown up expecting England to owe him anything. “I never thought I would win one England cap, or even play professional football.” “So I’m more than happy to turn up, sit in the stands and wait for my country’s call at any time.” For almost two years, that is effectively what he did. Then in December 1995, Le Saux suffered a horrific injury playing for Blackburn against Middlesbrough. His chance of playing at Euro 96 was gone. Pearce was 34 by the time the tournament started, but after spending years refusing to walk away from England, he had his place again. England reached the quarter-final against Spain at Wembley and after 120 minutes, the match went to penalties. Six years earlier, Pearce had missed in the World Cup semi-final shootout against West Germany. He knew that if he left the decision entirely to Venables, his manager might protect him from having to go through it again. So Pearce walked over before Venables could decide. “I’ll take the third one.” Venables looked at him. “Are you f****** sure?” Pearce was. He put the ball down, drove it past Andoni Zubizarreta and immediately turned towards the Wembley crowd, fists clenched, screaming as six years of frustration came out of him at once. England won the shootout. For years afterwards, that penalty against Spain was treated as the great redemption story of his England career. Pearce never really saw it that way. “What comes to my mind is a phone call from Terry Venables telling me that Graeme Le Saux is going to be the left back.” “He expected me to retire from international football.” “Fighting for my place for five years, that is the real story.” #football