There’s an eyebrow raising stat doing the rounds this week: Fulham have used the fourth-highest number of non-English players in Premier League history.
Yep, despite only being in it for 20 of its 35 seasons, we are above ever-present behemoths like Spurs, Arsenal, Liverpool, Everton and Manchester United, with only Manchester City, West Ham and - surprise surprse - Chelsea ahead of us.
There are two ways of looking at this, I guess. One is that we have a broad scouting network that combs the far corners of Europe and beyond, bringing in stars and hidden gems alike. Another is that our academy has consistently failed to produce homegrown talent that we can reap the benefits of ourselves.
It’s an interesting stat to emerge in the week that Josh King became the first Fulham player to be called up to the England squad since Marcus Bettinelli in 2018.
Should King feature against Croatia at Wembley tomorrow night, or against Spain in Madrid on Sunday, he’ll be the first Fulham player to don the Three Lions since Bobby Zamora in 2011.
Heritage
We’ve not had much of a relationship with England in recent years. But once upon a time we were synonymous with the national side. Johnny Haynes won more than 50 caps between 1954 and 1962, and was even captain of the national team.
Then there was George Cohen. He made his Three Lions debut after Haynes had left the fold, but no Fulham fan will need reminding that he lifted the Jules Rimet in 1966. Not that England were fancied, as he told me in 2018: “We were 10-1 against going into [it]. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to bet, or we’d have put a few shillings on that!”
Double duty
A little more than 30 years after Cohen’s last England cap, the national team came knocking again - but not for any of our players.
Back in 1998 we were known in the media as “Kevin Keegan’s Fulham”, and were in the middle of schooling the old Second Division (now League One), when the Three Lions approached us asking if the late King Kev could split his time between club and country.
He did, and still led us to the league title, before leaving us to become national coach full-time. It didn’t go too well for him, with a lacklustre Euro 2000 bleeding into England’s 2002 World Cup qualifying campaign. Keegan resigned after England fell to Germany in the last game at the old Wembley.
The magnificent eight
As the table at the top of this piece intimates, we’ve not had many players called up in the last 35 years (and beyond). In fact, since Cohen, only eight players have joined up with the squad (including King), with only three making it onto the pitch.
The first was Sean Davis in 2003, who was called up by the late Sven Goran Eriksson. Unfortunatley, he was an unused substitute as England fell 3-1 to Australia at Upton Park. He later said of his call-up: “I hated the experience. It was all weird, no one really spoke”.
Next was Zat Knight two years later in 2005, who made two appearances in the summer of 2005 Eriksson. He was a half-time substitute in a 2-1 win over the USA in Chicago, before playing 90 minutes in a 3-2 win over Colombia in New Jersey three days later.
Though he never received another call-up, Zat was still honoured to play for his country - as he told me years later. Especially as he nearly ended up playing in emerald green!
“I’d actually sat down with Jean Tigana before as Ireland had come in for me and I had the choice. He told me to go with the bigger team. When the senior side came around it was an honour, as I was the first Fulham player in a few decades to play for England. I got a couple of caps and enjoyed every moment of it.”
A year later we had another player swap the white of Fulham for England, albeit he was on loan from a team in blue. Wayne Bridge, who joined us in search of the first-team games that would secure his place at the 2006 World Cup, started for the Three Lions against Uruguay in March, but was hooked after 30 minutes for Jamie Carragher. Bridge made the squad for the tournament in Germany, but never made it on the pitch.
in August 2008, Jimmy Bullard was called up to Fabio Capello’s squad for the World Cup qualifiers away to Andorra and Croatia after playing a crucial role in our great escape under Roy Hodgson the previous season. He never made it off the bench, not that it bothered him. He said in his autobiography: "I often think I'm still celebrating that call-up now and I don't think I'll ever stop."
The season after our Europa League run, throuhout which he played a huge role, Bobby Zamora made his England debut, coming on as a second-half sub in a 2-1 win over Hungary at Wembley. He had to wait more than a year for his second cap, starting in a 1-0 win over Sweden, once again at the home of football.
Then we had a pair of goalkeepers link up with the squad but never play. There’s the aforementioned Bettinelli, but before him came David Stockdale, who received two England call-ups while in SW6. That feels like a pub quiz question.
Our lion
Despite this hugely mixed bag, England have still never won a World Cup without a Fulham player in its starting XI.
And while we wait with baited breath as to whether Josh gets his first cap during this break, I think we’re all in agreement that he’ll be earning a fair few in the coming years - hopefully while at Craven Cottage.
Given George Cohen’s impact 60 years ago, Thomas Tuchel would be wise to advise Josh that remaining at Fulham is in his - and England’s - best interests.
Is the table of foreign players, foreign born or play for foreign team?
Robinson, Iwobi and I think Bassey are UK born. So on Sarurday we had 5 England born players.