Former Manchester United, Watford and West Brom goalkeeper Ben Foster was in that unfortunate band of talented England stoppers that never quite managed to establish themselves as a regular Three Lions number one.
Foster was first called up by the national team at the start of the 2006/07 season after being on the standby list for the 2006 World Cup and remained in the international picture until 2014, when he won his eighth and final cap in England’s World Cup 2014 dead rubber against Costa Rica.
The likes of Paul Robinson, David James and Joe Hart prevented Foster from nailing down his place in the England starting XI, as the 42-year-old was called up by four different Three Lions bosses, starting with the late Sven-Goran Eriksson.
Foster rates his England managers
“My first England boss was Sven-Goran Eriksson – I didn’t actually play under him, but he was such a nice guy,” Foster recalls to FourFourTwo. “He was a quiet manager, always going about his business calmly.
“Steve McClaren handed me my debut against Spain. I liked Steve a lot – he got a bad reputation with the brolly incident, but he was a top coach.”
Foster remains less impressed with Fabio Capello, who lasted four years in the job before resigning three months before Euro 2012 following the FA’s decision to strip John Terry of the England captaincy.
“Fabio Capello probably wasn’t my type of manager, to be perfectly honest,” Foster continues. “He was incredibly strict and didn’t see us as individuals.
“It was a blanket, ‘No, you’re not doing that – like it or lump it!’
Capello was then replaced by Roy Hodgson, his then-club manager at West Brom.
“Roy Hodgson was definitely the one for me. I loved him so much. He was my gaffer at West Brom and I knew him well.
“He took me to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and even started me in the final group game against Costa Rica – I’ll forever be grateful for that.”
