The uncapped, Part Nine

1- John McGovern

Scottish midfielder John McGovern was part of Brian Clough’s successful Nottingham Forest squad that won the League title as well as two Champions Cups in 1979 and 1980. Despite his successes he was overlooked by Scottish Managers Ally McLeod and Jock Stein.

Photo From: Onze, Issue 54, June 1980

(John McGovern lifting the Champions Cup, May 28, 1980, Champions Cup, Nottingham Forest 1-SV Hamburg 0)

2- Hans-Peter lehnoff

1980s West German midfielder Hans-Peter Lehnoff played for many seasons for Koln. During the 1987/88 season, he joined Belgium’s Antwerp for  a successful six year spell. However, he was overlooked by the national team and only earned two caps with the Olympics squad in 1987.

Photo From: Fussball Magazin, January February 1985

(Hans-Peter Lehnoff with Koln, 1984/85)

3- Horst Blankenburg

West German libero Horst Blankenburg joined Ajax Amsterdam in 1970 and won the Champions Cup three times. Unfortunately, his position in the National Team was always occupied by Franz Beckenbauer. As a result he never gained any caps.

Photo From: AS Color, Issue 122, September 18, 1973

(Horst Blankenburg)

4- Nigel Spackman

1980s and 90s English midfielder Nigel Spackman was a solid performer for Chelsea, Liverpool and Rangers Glasgow. He never gained any English caps.

During the 1990/91 season, while at Rangers Glasgow he was called for a Scotland squad because of the one Grandparent rule but did not play.

Photo From: Goal, Issue 16, January 1997

(Nigel Spackman)

5- Agostino Di Bartolomei

1980s AS Roma captain Agsotino Di Bartolomei is often regarded as one of the best Italian players never to have been capped. He was the captain of Roma, when they won the Scudetto under Nils Liedholm in 1983.  Surprisingly, Enzo Bearzot never selected as Giancarlo Antognoni was always his first choice.

Sadly Di Brtolomei committed suicide in 1994, having been suffering from clinical depression for years.

Photo From: Onze, Issue 91, July 1983

(Agostino Di Bartolomei and Juventus’ Massimo Bonini, March 6, 1983, AS Roma 1-Juventus 2)