Stephen Froggatt, who Richardson helped sign for Aston Villa, will be next for audition. Naturally gifted left-footed players are treasured by scouts and coaches alike “They usually catch the eye,” says Richardson. “They always have a little something about them, their gait or movement. If we had a player who was able to go around the outside and cross, like David Beckham on the right, that would stretch the opposition defence and pose a lot more problems.”Keegan has to solve the dilemma before next summer.

“Unfortunately, with Jamie Redknapp playing out there for England, there were times when he had to drag the ball back on his right foot, which immediately made it easier for the defenders. Waddle used his right foot for standing on, which was just as well because he stood on it quite often. But just by standing still on the left touchline, Waddle provided England teams with a balance that Keegan’s England desperately lack.
“Balance. That’s the key word,” says Dave Richardson, head of youth development for the Premier League. But if Keegan could put back the clock a decade, Waddle would surely be near the top of his fantasy list for Euro 2000.

At the time, particularly in his more distracted moments, we probably did not appreciate the value of Waddle’s contribution. Tall, angular, with an ungainly, shuffling gait and an ability to deliver crosses to order, his name is Chris Waddle, once of Newcastle, Tottenham, Marseilles, Sheffield Wednesday, Sunderland, Torquay United, and England’s last genuinely world-class left-sided player. IN HIS search for a footballer who can kick with his left foot, Kevin Keegan might not have noticed a fixture in the First Division of the Meadowhall League in Sheffield this weekend where, according to local reports, a tasty left-winger has been recruited by Brunsmeer Athletic. You might not get good odds at the bookies but you would in my household.”. Sometimes in football you have got to take a step backward to take two forward and if that is the bottom line at the end of the season – whether I’m still here or not – I hope the club will come back stronger because of it.”But I honestly feel we are still in a good position to get ourselves out of trouble. “What we need most of all is stability,” he said, “not just this season but over a five-year period.