| Nickname(s) | The Three Lions | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Association | The Football Association | ||
| Head coach | Fabio Capello | ||
| Asst coach | Italo Galbiati | ||
| Most caps | Joe Corrigan (10) | ||
| Top scorer | Bedford Jezzard (6) | ||
| Home stadium | N/A | ||
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| First international | |||
| Switzerland B 0 - 0 England B (Geneva, Switzerland; 21 February 1947) |
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| Biggest win | |||
| Singapore 0 - 8 England B (Singapore City, Singapore; 18 June 1978) |
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| Biggest defeat | |||
| France Espoirs 7 - 1 England B (Le Havre, France; 22 May 1952) |
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England B is a secondary football team run occasionally as support for the England national football team. At times they have played other nations' full teams; they have also played matches against 'B' teams from other football associations. Since the team's first use in 1947, there have been 54 official[1] and 3 unofficial[2] B team matches (as of May 2007).
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Walter Winterbottom first proposed B team matches as a way of bringing players through into the national side (the Under 21 team, the current stepping stone to the national team, did not exist until 1976.[3]).[1] He organised the first recorded game held under the name of 'England B', which was played in Geneva on 21 February 1947 against Switzerland B team.[2] The match finished 0-0. The games proved useful as an introduction to the national team and the first official England B team game came in 1949 in a 4-0 victory over Finland[1]
The frequency of the games depends almost entirely upon the head coach of the England squad.[1] For example, there were no B team internationals under Sir Alf Ramsey or Don Revie; indeed there were none between 1957 and 1978. Ron Greenwood reintroduced them[1] and Bobby Robson used them regularly - there were nine B team internationals in 1989 and 1990. This period saw the likes of Paul Gascoigne enter the England team via the B squad.[1]
Sven-Göran Eriksson arranged just one B team match during his time in charge, held on 25 May 2006 against Belarus as a World Cup warm-up game. England lost 2-1, with a goal from Jermaine Jenas. Theo Walcott debuted for England B as the youngest player for them, but as it was a B international, this does not count towards official records, and had to wait until the 3-1 friendly victory against Hungary to break the official record, aged 17 years and 75 days.
Steve McClaren's only match with the B team was against the Albania full side on 25 May 2007 at Burnley's Turf Moor ground, which they won 3-1,[4] as preparation for England's Euro 2008 qualifier against Estonia on 6 June 2007.[5] The squad included a recovering Michael Owen, who captained the side,[6] as well as seven uncapped players, five of whom have since gone on to receive full international caps.[6] Current England head coach, Fabio Capello, has yet to arrange a B team match.
Attendances and opponents have varied widely, with some games against first teams (the last of which was in 2007 against Albania), Olympics teams and other B team squads. The most recent game against Albania had an attendance of 22,500 at Turf Moor.[7] Prior to the two high attendances for the games in 2006 and 2007, the previous time that the B team had played in front of more than 20,000 people was in 1978 in a match in Singapore, against their national team, when 40,000 people attended.[2]
The highest attendances for England B games were in a series of matches against the Netherlands and Netherlands B in the 1950s, when the Olympisch Stadion in Amsterdam saw three matches with an attendance of 60,000.[2] The highest attendance at home for the B team was 43,068 at St James' Park, Newcastle, again against the Netherlands on 22 February 1950.[2]
The games are generally seen as being a way of bringing younger or more inexperienced players into the national team set up, without giving them a full cap.[8] They may often be held before World Cups or other tournaments to give second choice players, injured players or possible choices an opportunity to have a full game to either keep their fitness or play their way into the first team.[1]
However, some fans and footballers see the games as slightly pointless, as indicated by the low attendances of the games during the 1980s and 1990s, when as few as 4,000 fans would watch home games. When Chris Sutton was picked for England B before the 1998 FIFA World Cup, he refused to play for the team, claiming that it was a waste of time and that he should have been picked for the first team.[9] This boycott, however, ended Sutton's chances of ever playing for the full national team again. Furthermore, Matt Le Tissier, who scored a hat-trick for the England B team against Russia B in that match, controversially failed to make the 1998 FIFA World Cup squad.[8] On the other hand, Darren Anderton successfully returned to the first team squad via the B team after recovering from injury in 1998, whilst other players such as Paul Gascoigne have been brought to the full team via the Bs.[1]
In 2006, the England B team game was seen as being useful for giving a glimpse of potential future England players.[10] In particular, it proved useful for Aaron Lennon and Peter Crouch to stake their claims for places in the 2006 FIFA World Cup squad.[10] Furthermore, it provided match practice for Michael Owen and Sol Campbell, who were both returning from injury. Overall, 12 players from the 2006 B team squad[11] eventually made it to the final World Cup squad.[12] That said, an injury picked up in the game prevented goalkeeper Robert Green from playing at the World Cup[13] and of the twelve players in both squads, five were established players with over 25 caps.
The England B team has not played since 2007:
Overall match record:
The England B team currently has no scheduled fixtures.
The most recent England B team squad was selected for a game against Albania on 25 May 2007. The squad, with the players' clubs as on the date of the game, consisted of:
| Name | DOB | Club On Date Of Match |
England B Caps (goals) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scott Carson | 3 September 1985 | Liverpool | 2 (0) |
| Robert Green | 18 January 1980 | West Ham United | 1 (0) |
| Paul Robinson | 15 October 1979 | Tottenham Hotspur | 0 (0) |
| Name | DOB | Club |
Caps (goals) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michael Dawson | 18 November 1983 | Tottenham Hotspur | 2 (0) |
| Phil Neville | 21 January 1977 | Everton | 1 (0) |
| Ledley King | 12 October 1980 | Tottenham Hostpur | 1 (0) |
| Nicky Shorey | 19 February 1981 | Reading | 1 (0) |
| Phil Jagielka | 17 August 1982 | Sheffield United | 1 (0) |
| Steven Taylor | 23 January 1986 | Newcastle United | 1 (0) |
| Joleon Lescott | 16 August 1982 | Everton | 1 (0) |
| Name | DOB | Club On Date Of Match |
Caps (goals) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stewart Downing | 22 July 1984 | Middlesbrough | 2 (2) |
| Jermaine Jenas | 18 February 1983 | Tottenham Hotspur | 2 (1) |
| Aaron Lennon | 16 April 1987 | Tottenham Hotspur | 2 (0) |
| Owen Hargreaves | 20 January 1981 | Bayern Munich | 1 (0) |
| Gareth Barry | 23 February 1981 | Aston Villa | 1 (0) |
| David Bentley | 27 August 1984 | Blackburn Rovers | 1 (0) |
| Scott Parker | 1 October 1980 | Newcastle United | 0 (0) |
| Kieron Dyer | 29 December 1978 | Newcastle United | 3 (0) |
| Matt Taylor | 27 November 1981 | Portsmouth | 1 (0) |
| Alan Smith | 28 October 1980 | Manchester United | 1 (1) |
| Name | DOB | Club On Date Of Match |
Caps (goals) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michael Owen | 14 December 1979 | Newcastle United | 2 (0) |
| Jermain Defoe | 7 October 1982 | Tottenham Hotspur | 1 (0) |
| David Nugent | 2 May 1985 | Preston North End | 0 (0) |
Player records for the England B team come largely from groups of players who were involved with the side during short periods in which a number of games were played, notably between 1978 and 1981, and again between 1989 and 1994. These two periods count for 29, or just over half, of all England B games.[14]
| Rank | Name | Caps | Goals | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Joe Corrigan | 10 | 0 | 1978–1981 |
| 2 | Gary Pallister | 9 | 0 | 1989–1992 |
| = | Gary Mabbutt | 9 | 1 | 1984–1992 |
| 4 | Brian Talbot | 8 | 3 | 1978–1980 |
| 5 | Gary Owen | 7 | 0 | 1978 |
| = | Viv Anderson | 7 | 2 | 1978–1980 |
| = | Alan Kennedy | 7 | 2 | 1978–1980 |
| = | Paul Mariner | 7 | 2 | 1978–1980 |
| = | Alan Sunderland | 7 | 1 | 1978–1981 |
| = | Dave Beasant | 7 | 0 | 1989–1991 |
| = | Tony Dorigo | 7 | 0 | 1989–1992 |
| Rank | Name | Caps | Goals | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bedford Jezzard | 3 | 6 | 1954–1955 |
| 2 | Tommy Taylor | 2 | 4 | 1956 |
| = | Gordon Hill | 6 | 4 | 1978 |
| = | Alan Smith | 4 | 4 | 1990–1992 |
| 5 | Jack Rowley | 1 | 3 | 1949 |
| = | Brian Talbot | 6 | 3 | 1978–1980 |
| = | Paul Merson | 4 | 3 | 1991–1998 |
| = | Matthew le Tissier | 6 | 3 | 1990–1998 |
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