Express & Star

Bully recalls Italia 90 - some 25 years on!

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Some 25 years since England's heartbreaking World Cup penalties defeat, Steve Bull recalls his journey from Division Three to the World Cup.

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"I've got goalscoring records, a stand named after me, an MBE, but this was crazy – me, a lad from Tipton who hadn't got a first touch, at the World Cup."

This is the story of a football sensation – Stephen George Bull at Italia 90.

Just four years earlier Bull had been discarded by Albion for supposedly not being good enough to play in the top flight.

And here he was, mixing it with Van Basten, Klinsmann, Gullit, Shifo and Matthaus on the biggest stage of them all. Blokes from Tipton don't tend to play in the World Cup.

And blokes in the World Cup tend to have had prolonged careers at football's top levels – not a few seasons in the English lower leagues playing for a club that trained on a car park.

But Bully was different. His World Cup story defies logic in today's game and will surely never be repeated. It began in November 1986 when he began scoring goals for Wolves.

Nineteen in the first season, 52 in the second and 50 in the third earned him an England call-up against Scotland in May 1989, despite the fact Wolves were still a Third Division team.

After a debut goal, another 27 in the Second Division with Wolves and two more for England against Czechoslovakia, his place on the plane to Italy looked to be booked.

But with some top strikers around for competition, was Bully expecting the World Cup call-up?

Pride of the Black Country - Steve Bull lines up to play for England at World Cup Italia 90.

"Not at all," a typically modest Bully told the Express & Star. "I didn't expect to play for England let alone go to the World Cup.

"It was unreal to be honest. When the squad was announced I looked down the list at the names and there was Bull. I couldn't believe it.

"There was some big competition for the forward spots – Gary Lineker, Peter Beardsley, Alan Smith, Paul Merson, John Fashanu to name a few.

"There were some good, big names there and here was me coming out of the Third Division."

Six weeks in Italy followed as Bully embarked on the adventure of a lifetime.

How did the Tipton Terrier fit into an England squad full of top-flight stars like Lineker, Gazza, John Barnes and Chris Waddle?

"They just took to me," Bull said. "I never saw anyone with their collars up thinking they were a big-time Charlie, there was none of that. I fitted right in.

"The squad was close knit and I had a great room partner in David Platt, who was at Villa at the time.

"He was a world class player and I learnt a lot from him, tactics and things like that.

"The gaffer (Bobby Robson) treated me like one of his own. He knew how I spoke and acted, I never had one rollocking off him. I just got my head down and if I was wrong I'd hold my hand up."

Bully scored in a warm-up game versus Tunisia, only adding to the clamour for him to be in Bobby's team. And one cannot underestimate the excitement generated by Bully before the tournament began.

Sixty-four per cent of a 25,000 nationwide TV poll said he should start alongside Lineker, while Jimmy Greaves went on telly sporting a 'Let The Bull Loose' T-shirt.

"I was aware of it, the clamour, the Saint & Greavsie stuff – it was all over the place," Bully said.

"I heard afterwards Bobby Robson took me because no other team knew who I was, it was like playing the joker. I was a dark horse."

Six minutes from the bench in the opening game against Ireland whetted Bull's appetite.

Then around half an hour against Holland, complete with Van Basten, Gullit, Koeman and Rijkaard, was a proper taste. Was he nervous? "To me they were just players - names didn't mean anything.

"I just thought, he's a big lad, he's this, he's that, I'll sort them out. Now I look back and reel those names off, these were world class. I just took my game and transferred it to another pitch.

"Bobby Robson always used to say, whatever you do, don't change what you do for Wolves, and you'll do well.

"He said 'run at them, get at them and frighten the life out of them and they'll be scared of you'."

Steve Bull celebrates a goal for England with his team-mates.

He had impressed enough to earn a start in the final group game against Egypt. The game though was a tight, drab affair and England's tactics inhibited him.

"It was a frustrating game," he said. "Egypt played five at the back and it was very, very hard to break down. "Bobby Robson put out a strategic plan to get a result and we got it.

"It didn't work out for me. I was running around like a headless chicken. The balls weren't coming in for me, England were playing a patient passing game.

"Because Egypt had five at the back they weren't playing over the top or down the sides, so they were trying to play through them. I was running around trying to pull players out of position for the others coming through."

A blank for Bully meant he was back on the bench against Belgium. Platt scored a dramatic late extra-time winner – although substitute Bully was waiting behind him to score himself.

"I had a 25-yarder just before the goal which scraped the post. I thought, just think if that would have gone in!

"When that ball came over the top I was just about to say 'leave it, leave it' and Platt volleyed it – bosh – and he's scored.

"Amazing. I was the first one to him and he's beaming. The night out afterwards he couldn't stop smiling."

Sadly for Bully that was his last action of the tournament.

As England gained momentum Robson stuck with Lineker and Beardsley up front and Bull watched from the sidelines as they overcame Cameroon – again in extra time – and lost that famous semi-final against Germany on penalties, 25 years ago today.

As a nation sat on the edge of its collective sofa with England 1-0 down the Germans, little did they know that Robson was planning on unleashing Bully once more.

"There was 20 minutes to go and Bobby Robson says, 'get up, get warmed up'.

"I did all my warm ups and stood by him with my jacket half down ready to go on and he's looking at me.

"Then the ball comes over the top, Lineker turns, bang, under the legs, bottom corner, goal.

"Robson says 'Steve sit down for five minutes'. 'Okay gaffer no worries'.

"And I sat down and thought that's it, I'm not going on. I just wanted 20 minutes and I knew I'd get one chance.

"I wasn't gutted though, I was just glad to be part of it, it's a worldwide thing and any player wants to be where I was.

"I'm just thinking if we win this now I'm in a World Cup final. How can you be gutted."

When Chris Waddle blazed his penalty over the bar, England's – and Bully's – World Cup dream died.

There were tears aplenty in the dressing room, but Robson soon had them back on their feet.

He said: "That was the only game when the nerves set in. The prize at the end of it was just too big.

"But it wasn't a case of the two lads (Pearce and Waddle) missing, you didn't miss it, we all missed it.

"Bobby Robson said in the changing room after, 'listen, you lot have done me absolutely bloody proud, you couldn't have done more, so hold your heads up, you get out there now and keep your chins up.'

"There were a few tears in the dressing room. Gazza's the main one, I said come here you daft bugger and gave him a hug.

"We were all shaking hands and then sat down, had about a five minute think and then that was it, go and show the public what we've done."

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That they did, with an estimated 300,000 people turning up in Luton to greet the squad when they landed home, scenes Bully could barely comprehend.

"It was the biggest crowd I've seen in my life, only comparable to when Wolves won the Sherpa Van Trophy," he said.

"It was just absolutely unbelievable. Gazza's got his fake boobs on, people were trying to get on the bus, it was just a mass of people.

"The bus was going two miles an hour, it was madness. I don't think there'd have been more even if we'd won the World Cup."

His England career soon petered after, with just two more substitute appearances before Alan Shearer and Ian Wright – top flight players – were favoured.

Not that Bully has any regrets. He lived the dream, has a World Cup medal and an England shirt signed by all his team mates. And of course the memories.

"I can't believe it's been so long. I could shut my eyes now and we'll be getting on that plane to Italy wearing our nice grey suits.

"It's some feat to go from where I was to the World Cup. People say to me that I never played top flight football, well England is top flight football. And many Premier League players never play for their country.

"I was being told one minute by Ron Saunders at Albion that I hadn't got a first touch and then four years later I played at the World Cup.

"It was one of the greatest experiences I've ever had. I'm a very lucky person."